When It's Meant to Be
by wilson2015
Summary: Shane is back and now a young WWE Diva has caught his eye. What happens when Shane is trying to manage the WWE and his family on top of trying to control his feelings for a younger woman that he shouldn't have.
1. Welcome Home

Shane McMahon looked in the mirror for what must have been the 50th time. He ran his fingers through his grey hair and sighed heavily. Things were so different, he was different. It had been close to 7 years since he had been anywhere near an arena for a WWE event. Now here he was stuck in this tour bus for the last hour waiting for the signal to head out. His sister had told him to stay at the hotel and she would send the bus for him that would take him to the parking lot behind the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. She could not stress enough how important it was that no one saw him or knew he was even in the city. His return was supposed to be the biggest thing to happen in a very long time for the WWE. _'_ _Sure no pressure'_ Shane thought to himself. He turned to glance at his reflection again and tried his hardest to get his nerves under control. His appearance had certainly changed over the years, sure he was physically in the best shape of his life but tiny wrinkles were starting to appear and his dark brown hair was now a thing of the past, replaced by his grey hair that constantly got brought up whenever a rare sighting of him did pop up in the media. Shane McMahon had done many things in his life that got his blood pumping but if he were to be honest with himself, this may be one of the most nerve wracking things he could possibly think of doing. _'_ _Would people even remember me? Worse what if they remember me but don't even care that I'm back?'_ Shane silently thought. He talked to Steph earlier and right after she was through threatening his life if anyone saw him, she assured him that people would freak over this. Since he had been gone, his name was brought up quite frequently and it seemed that the audience missed him. He just tried to keep reminding himself of that.

Shane felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out.

 **Marissa: Boys are missing you, I told them you had business in Boston. You said you were going on first right? Trying to keep Rogan up but he's fading pretty fast.**

Shane's gut dropped a bit when he read the text. It said the boys missed him, didn't say anything about Marissa missing him. He sighed heavily, another thing in his life that was totally upside down. September would be 20 years that they had been married and as far as both of them were concerned, they wouldn't be making that milestone anniversary. They both had been feeling the distance for some time and planned on telling the boys they would be splitting up. Then Vince had called Shane and he decided to come back for Wrestlemania and since the boys had never really gotten the chance to experience it before, Marissa and Shane didn't want it ruined by the news of a divorce so it was decided to hold off until after Wrestlemania then they would break the news to everyone. It was certainly very weird sharing a bed with someone that he used to be very much in love with and now considered more of a friend. He would always love her, they had shared so many memories and happy times together and she did give him the three most beautiful sons in the world and for that he would always be grateful but as far as their marriage was concerned it was on borrowed time.

 **Shane: Yes, our segment is first. I should be out about 10 minutes into the show. Don't forget to switch the camera on, dying to see their reactions.**

 **Marissa: It's charged and ready to go. Good luck out there tonight, don't be nervous. This is what you were born to do :-)**

 **Shane: Thanks, I'll call right when I'm done. Tell the boys I love them.**

 **Marissa: I will.**

Shane slipped his phone back into his pocket. He glanced at the TV on the wall of the tour bus and watched his father make his way down the ramp. This was it, his sister should be out there in another minute and once her music hit, that was the que to head into the building. He took a giant sip from his water bottle then grabbed his jacket to put on. Once Steph's music began he took another giant breath and stepped out of the bus. "Here we go." Shane said outloud to himself.

 _'_ _This is insane'_ Shane thought to himself as he jogged down the ramp. This crowd would not stop. The second his music hit, the place just exploded. Everyone was completely into seeing him return and it was taking everything Shane had in him to not show more emotion than he was meant to. He didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry or maybe a little of both, but one thing was for sure this reaction was nothing he would have ever expected. Shane climbed up the stairs and grabbed hold of the top rope before stepping in. _'_ _This is it, one more step.'_ He told himself. He had not been in a WWE ring in almost 7 years, this just felt right, this is where he belonged. All the bullshit between him and his father over the years; the fighting, the disagreements, the frustration, none of that mattered anymore. He was home.

Their segment was a pretty long one and went on for close to 20 minutes and the crowd was eating up every single word. After thanking the crowd one last time while the show was on a commercial break, he stepped through that curtain and was greeted by a round of applause from everyone that was in the gorilla position. He looked over to his left and saw his sister and father standing side by side. Steph ran up to her brother with tears in her eyes, "See! I told you. I told you it would amazing!" She said wrapping her arms around her brother for a hug. Shane knew how tough him leaving was on his baby sister. He remembered when he told her he would be resigning and how upset she was. People like to think there was this big sibling rivalry between the two of them but the true was, they were each other's biggest cheerleaders. After a quick hug from his father and welcome backs from his old friends, Shane quietly slipped away to an empty room to call home.

Marissa answered on the first ring and he could hear his sons going insane in the background. "Hello?!" she had to yell over the commotion going on behind her.

"Hi!" Shane said laughing, "Everything alright?" he said with a giant smile plastered to his face.

"Boys!" Marissa barked away from the phone, "Cool it, I can barely hear your dad. Settle down!" Shane heard his sons do as their mother said and the room got much quieter. "Shane I'm gonna put you on speaker, hold on."

Once Shane was on speaker, it took about half a second for the three McMahon boys to lose it again, "Dad! That was unbelievable, so cool! Pop looked so mad!" His oldest, Declan, exclaimed. "Dad everyone was going crazy, I can't believe you're gonna fight the Undertaker at Wrestlemania!" His second son, Kenyon, added. "Daddy, you were on TV!" His littlest one, Rogan, said stating the obvious but having just turned 6 it was pretty cute. All three kids kept going trying to talk over one another and Shane could not understand anything that any of them were saying.

"Woah Woah, hold on. One at a time, please" Shane said into the phone trying to settle down his super excited yet very hyper sons. After Shane was able to get control, he took the time to speak to each one individually and then ordered them off to bed since they still had school in the morning, even though both parents knew they wouldn't be sleeping at all from all the excitement. With a quick goodbye to Marissa, Shane hung up and sat down on one of the locker room benches. He smiled at how excited his kids were and so happy that he was able to surprise them. He was doing this all for them; Shane had grown up in such an awesome unusual way with his dad taking him to shows since he was two. Even though his future after Wrestlemania was still unclear he wanted to give his boys a look into what growing up a McMahon in the WWE is really like.

After taking some time to reflect on what just happened, Shane set out to find his dad and see if he had anything else planned for him this evening. When he found him he was running the show from the gorilla positon, as he usually does, and told him to hang back a bit because there was some things he wanted to discuss later. Shane decided to take the opportunity to walk around and familiarize himself with the backstage area again. He hadn't been to a WWE event since before he left, sure he was invited numerous times but Shane always felt that if he wasn't apart of WWE than it would just be too weird and somewhat painful to attend as just a fan. Suddenly he felt his stomach grumble with hunger, he remembered he really hadn't eaten much today with his nerves off the charts, so he made his way to catering to grab a quick bite. As he was walking he kept feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket. He had only officially been back for less than an hour and already his phone was going insane with calls and texts from so many different people wanting to congratulate him; he would take the time on the flight back home in the morning to answer everyone.

Shane followed a couple signs to catering and was pleased to see some familiar faces. Being gone for so long, there were many superstars that he had never even met so it was nice to see ones that he did know. Once everyone became aware, every superstar and diva that was in the room stood up and clapped for him. It was a warming and humbling feeling that everyone was so happy to see him return even after all these years. "Alright, Alright. Settle down, I'm still me. No need to make a fuss. But thank you!" he said beaming with such happiness. Old time wrestlers like the Dudleys and Chris Jericho, who Shane was very good friends with, rushed over and were dying to catch up with him. Shane picked an empty table deciding to eat in a little bit. He was eager to catch up with so many different people.

All throughout the night, people were in and out of catering and many of the new people were excited to finally meet the famous Shane O Mac. He was somewhat of a legend in the locker rooms and every now and then one of the older guys would tell a story of either having a match with Shane, going out after a show with Shane, or getting pranked by Shane. He was always known as the ultimate jokester, even though Vince would constantly yell at him for not acting professional. Shane looked around after awhile and noticed that the catering room was starting to empty out so he thought this would be a good time to finally grab something to eat, at this point he would eat anything he was so hungry.

"Shane! Over here." A women's voice came interrupting him from his quest for food. He turned towards the voice and saw Nattie Neidhart sitting at a table with two other girls. Shane quietly grumbled to himself, _"I'm never gonna eat today, am I?"_ he thought to himself as he made his way over to the table he was being called over to.

"Hey Nat!" he responded pulling her into a hug. He had known Nattie for years and being from such a popular wrestling family herself, they had a lot on common. He was happy to see that she was finally being given a chance in the WWE and put into some good storylines.

"I can't believe you're back!" she said brightly. "This is so great, we've really missed you around here."

"Awe, well thanks Nat, it's really good to be back." He said returning her smile.

"How are the boys? You had one more after you left right? Stephanie showed me a picture awhile back. Gorgeous kids." She said.

"Thanks, yeah three all together now. Rogan was the last one, he was born right after I left." He answered.

"And how's Marissa?" she asked.

"Marissa's good, started her own production company few years back. It's going really good for her." He said still feeling awkward that she was soon going to be his ex-wife.

"That's awesome, please tell her I said hi. You remember Nikki?" Nattie said turning to the table she was sitting at, pointing over to Nikki Bella. Nikki and her twin sister Brie had just started out when Shane was heading out the door so he knew her but not very well.

"Yeah, hey how you doing? Nice to see you again." Shane greeted politely shaking her hand.

"You too. Welcome back!" Nikki responded warmly.

Shane heard someone else call his name from across the room and waved to them as they walked by.

"And this is Ashlee Taylor." Nattie said introducing the other girl at the table. Ashlee was 26 years old and had started with the company about 3 years ago. She was petite at only five foot four with light brown hair and very beautiful stone grey eyes with just a touch of blue to them. She tried out for WWE on a whim and never thought in a million years she would ever make the cut but she did and now 3 years later she was one of their most popular divas having won the championship twice already. She was your typical girl next door who got along with everyone but deep down Ashlee had some secrets that she kept to herself in fear that it would make people look at her very differently.

Shane didn't want to be rude and quickly directed his attention back to the conversation and once he looked over at the woman that Nattie was introducing him to, he stopped dead in his tracks. "Umm.. hi." He said trying to compose himself. _'_ _Wow, this girl is beautiful.'_ Shane thought to himself as he stuck out his hand to shake hers. "Shane McMahon, nice to meet you."

Ashlee smiled the most gorgeous smile Shane was convinced he had ever seen in his life. "Please the pleasure is all mine. It is so nice to meet you, Shane." She said a little star struck.

Shane couldn't help but smile and get a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach when he heard his name come out of her mouth. _'Cut it out McMahon, pull yourself together. She's just a girl.'_ Shane yelled at himself silently trying to make sure he didn't stare too much but a part of him just couldn't help it. She was dressed in her ring gear which was white and gold shorts that highlighting her curves perfectly and a matching cut up top that showed the perfect amount of cleavage that Shane was trying his hardest to hide the fact that he was staring at. The one thing he was completely memorized with though were her eyes, Shane was positive that on his 46 years of life on this planet he had never seen eyes like that, they were simply gorgeous and Shane couldn't help but feel that she was looking right into him. He realized that he really needed to get out of here, this feeling he suddenly got was way too intense at the moment.

"Well ladies, I'll let you get back to your dinner. Nattie, Nikki it was great seeing you and umm.. Ashlee it was nice meeting you." And with that Shane scurried off to look for his dad who he was positive was probably looking for him by now. As he was walking through the halls though he couldn't get this Ashlee Taylor girl out of his mind but he didn't have a choice, he had to.

 **Hi Everyone, I was dying to start this story all weekend. Please let me know what you think, I love Shane McMahon stories and don't' feel there are enough on here. Please review!**


	2. Helping Hand

It had been two weeks since Shane's return and he was still trying to come down from the high of it. His phone had been blowing up with requests from countless television and radio shows for him to come on and do interviews. He picked a couple that he was interested in and the rest he politely declined. Shane had never been one for interviews and too many appearances outside of WWE's walls, many found it hard to believe what a private person he really was.

Shane parked his rental car outside of the Allstate Arena in Chicago, this time he would be doing a promo in the ring by himself until his dad would eventually come out and they would hash it out in front of everyone. At least that was the plan so far, the creative team was famous for changing the story up to an hour before the show. He checked in with Marissa who was a little aggravated with him today and he really had no idea why and he eventually ended up cutting the call short. I mean did he really have to check in with her anymore? Yes they were still married but they certainly weren't acting like a married couple; it was just, he had been checking in with her for over 20 years, guess old habits die hard. He shook it off sent her a quick text to apologize for hanging up and that he would call before the show started. She responded with a simple "OK". He took a couple deep breathes before exiting the car then made his way into the arena.

Meanwhile Ashlee was in an empty Divas' locker room getting her workout clothes together. It was still pretty early and no one was here yet which is exactly what she was hoping for. Creative had told her at a house show yesterday that tonight's match was going to be something crazy. They were really trying to push the women more and more so they wanted the matches to be more exciting. The higher ups had asked Ashlee how her top rope action was, to be honest it wasn't really her style but you can't really say no too much in this business or you are at risk of getting replaced very quickly. So she came in early to hopefully get some ring time by herself to practice. Hopefully she wouldn't get hurt or worse look like an idiot.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"You want me to what?!" Shane exclaimed looking at his sister.

"What? Stop it, you'll be fine." Steph said not understanding what her brother was freaking out about. The script changed slightly and after Vince came out and basically disowned Shane publicly then three security guards were going to come out and Shane was supposed to beat all three of them up.

"Steph, I don't know if you've forgotten but I haven't done anything physical in the ring for 7 years and now you spring this on me a few hours before I gotta be out there? This was Dad's idea wasn't it?!" Shane barked knowing his father had to have had something to do with the sudden change in script.

Steph looked at her big brother, "Wellll…." She hesitated.

"I knew it!" Shane said slapping his leg and jumping off the couch he was sitting on, "He can't let go of the past, can he?! Now I gotta go out there and take on three guys in front of 20,000 people."

"Dude bro, relax. You're acting like this is a real fight. They are actors, you're literally throwing them over the top rope, end of story. What is the big deal?" she said.

"The big deal is that I haven't done ring work in a long time. I would have liked a little more of a heads up." He explained.

"Haven't you been working out with those two trainers in New York?" she asked puzzled.

"Yeah, that's one on one and not in front of thousands and thousands of people… you know what…forget it." He said very annoyed and grabbed his bag heading for the door.

"Where you going?" Stephanie said whipping around nervous that her brother was getting way too hot headed right now and leaving.

"I'm going down to the ring to hopefully warm up a bit so I don't make myself look like an idiot tonight. That okay with you, boss?!" he spat at her.

Stephanie put her hands up in defense and watched her brother leave her makeshift office slamming the door pretty loudly on his way out. If there was anyone in this world that knew Shane better than anyone, it was his sister. She knew this wasn't about the change in script and having to fight the security guards tonight. This was about Shane being frustrated because he was back in WWE but not in the way he was used to. Shane wasn't an executive anymore; he was just a performer with a temporary contract and he was having a hard time dealing with that. She considered calling Marissa and seeing if she had any thoughts on what to do with her brother. The two women hadn't spoken much lately, which Steph found rather odd. The two were practically sisters and the few times that Steph had tried to call, her messages were never returned. She glanced at her watch and realized she had a meeting in 10 minutes, so that call to Marissa would have to wait.

Shane was very grateful that it was still early enough in the day that a lot of people hadn't arrived yet. He was way too hot right now to run into anyone. He had changed quickly in his dressing room and navigated his way to the ring. The ring had been set up earlier in the morning so the ring crew wouldn't be back until much later to put the finishing touches on so it would hopefully just be him down there. Shane came out from underneath the ramp since there were a few crew members putting that together and stopped short when he saw someone in the ring already. He was about to turn around when he noticed who it was. Ashlee was alone in the ring and from what he could see, she looked very frustrated.

As much as Shane had tried the past couple weeks, he could not get Ashlee out of his head. He thought about her more than normal for a person he only spoke a few words to but there was just something about her. After his return he had gone back to the hotel and pulled up the WWE Network on his laptop and watched some of her matches. She was very good and was very entertaining to watch. Shane had try to convince himself that he was just trying to get up to speed with all the new talent but she was the only one he was interested in learning about. Since google is the way of the world now he tried to look up as much as he could about her, sure that may be borderline creepy but he was just curious what her story was. He couldn't help but try and see if she had a boyfriend and was failing at finding any so he was hoping that meant she didn't have one. _"Wait a minute, why do you care if she had a boyfriend?"_ he thought to himself, _"Not really like you could ask her out or anything."_

Shane kept watching her climb to the top ropes and trying to nail a frog splash but was tucking in too tight. Everytime she hit the mat it looked way too sloppy. He was going to turn around and let her figure it out on her own but something drew him closer to the ring. He watched her do the same thing one more time and finally couldn't take it anymore, "You're tucking in too much." he said startling Ashlee and himself quite frankly. _"You shouldn't be here with her, you need to leave."_ He yelled at himself.

Ashlee continued sitting in the middle of the mat and let out a frustrated sigh, "I figured as much, I just can't get my body to do what I want it to do, so frustrating." She said softly with disappointing oozing from her voice.

Shane couldn't help but think of all the things he could get her body to do but quickly shook the inappropriate thoughts from his mind. Ashlee looked over at Shane noticing him in workout clothes, "I'm sorry did you want to use the ring?" she asked. "I can go, I'm not getting it anyway." She started to roll out of the ring.

"No, no wait." He said stopping her. "Get back up there one more time, maybe I can help." The second the words left his mouth he regretted them. _"What the fuck are you doing? There's trainers for shit like this."_ He scolded himself silently, knowing he was treading on very thin ice here.

"Oh no, I don't want to be a bother. I'm sure you have stuff to do. I'll just get out of your way." Ashlee responded.

Even though Shane knew this may be a horrible idea, his mind and his mouth were not on the same page today, "Please." He insisted, "It will make me feel somewhat useful around here."

Ashlee couldn't help but giggle at this, "Useful? You're like the most talked about person in the world, Mr. Trending for Two Straight Days. That's pretty impressive if you ask me."

Shane rolled his eyes, social media was so not his thing and the only reason he made a twitter was because his father and sister pretty much made him, "You want my help or not!?" he said with a huge smile so she knew he was kidding with her.

Ashlee jumped up off the mat and made her way over to one of the corner posts. Shane tried to look away as she was climbing up to the top rope but was entirely unsuccessful. Her grey and pink spandex pants clung to her in all the right places. _"Wow her ass is fantastic"_ he couldn't help think to himself.

"So you said I am tucking too tight?" Ashlee asked bringing Shane back to reality immediately.

"Uh…Yeah. When you do that you are going to over rotate. Loosen your hips and don't grab your knees so tight, you can tell you are clenching way too much." Shane explained imaging what Ashlee's legs would look like up on his shoulders. _"Cut it out McMahon, your acting like a horny teenager!"_ Shane thought in his head. "Trust me I know it seems scary and it's hard not to think about but you just gotta trust your ability. You can do this." Ashlee took a deep breathe before diving off and somersaulting in the air, landing stomach first to the mat.

"Better!" Shane instructed, "Try it again. I think you'll get it this time." Ashlee followed orders and did it one more time nailing it perfectly. "Told ya! Amazing job, that looked flawless!" Shane praised.

Ashlee jumped up in excitement, "Oh my god! I did it, thank you so much!" she said and without thinking wrapped her arms around Shane's broad neck pulling him into a hug. Shane was completely taken off guard and instinctively brought his arms around her back returning the hug. He took a second to take in the smell of her light brown hair; he wasn't sure if it was shampoo, perfume, or just her natural beautiful smell but it smelled heavenly. Ashlee immediately realized she was hugging Shane McMahon, the owner's son. In fact the owner's _married_ son! What the hell was she doing? She stepped back quickly, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! You must think I'm some weirdo, I swear I almost never hug people. I was just so excited. So sorry!" she apologized again, knowing for a fact that she must be blushing.

"It's no problem" Shane simply said trying to not show how much he actually enjoyed that hug. He was trying so hard to not show it but he was very disappointed that she pulled away.

"Well thanks again for your help, I'll let you get to your training. Good luck tonight." She said with a wave sliding out of the ring. She was getting a weird feeling around Shane, one she hadn't felt for a man in a very long time and really needed to create some distance. Again he was the owner's married son, who had kids, who was also 20 years her senior. Shane McMahon could not be anymore off limits.

"Good luck in your match too, I'll make sure to watch for that frog splash." Shane said with a flirty wink. _'Oh God, did I really just wink?!"_ Shane thought, he didn't mean to, it just kinda happened. _"Do people even wink anymore these days?"_ Shane had always been such a loyal partner and in the over 20 years they were together he never even thought about flirting with another woman. He was for sure out of practice.

Ashlee made her way backstage and when she was sure Shane was busy setting himself up to run the ropes, she discreetly glanced back over her shoulder. _Did Shane McMahon just wink at me?_ " She thought to herself. _"God is he cute"_ She couldn't help think as she walked back towards to locker rooms.


	3. Holding Back

Monday Night Raw was a success that night. The crowd was completely loving the fact that Shane was back and battling with his father again. After Shane was done doing what was needed of him from the show and calling in quick to say goodnight to the boys, Shane found himself hanging back. He was exhausted from an incredibly long day but something in him was keeping him at Raw that night. He didn't want to leave until he saw Ashlee's match so once he heard her music hit, he found a comfy spot on one of the couches in the gorilla position and waited to see what would happen.

Vince who was at his usual station with headphones on glanced over at his son wondering what he was still doing here. He noticed how his son's eyes weren't leaving the screen and this now had the elder McMahon very confused. "Since when are we interested in Diva's matches Shane-O?" Vince asked.

Shane looked up at his father for a split second then directed his attention back to the screen, "I'm interested in every match, Pop." Ashlee was looking great. Her ring gear was very sexy and really didn't leave much to imagination. However aside from how she looked sexy wise, as a competitor she was looking amazing. She was facing new comer Becky Lynch and so far was completely dominating the match. Towards the end though Becky was able to get a cheap shot in which knocked the wind out of Ashlee for a minute. As Becky was busy running around the ring gloating, this gave Ashlee plenty of time to recharge and with a single kick to the abdomen, Becky was down. Shane could sense that Ashlee was setting up for the frogsplash and he was on the edge of his seat waiting for it. He held his breathe as he saw her kick off the top rope, he watched her tuck in perfectly and roll up into the most kick ass frogsplash he had ever seen.

"Yes!" he said raising an arm in the air over his head.

Vince along with everyone else in the room quickly turned to Shane with the most surprised and perplexed looks on their faces. Everyone had the same thought on their minds, not taking anything away from the two amazing women performers in the ring but Shane was a little too excited for this match. Vince decided to let it go for the time being but made sure to keep an eye on his son and his strange behavior.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Shane sat downstairs at the hotel bar ordering his second beer. He was starting to remember how life on the road was; he was never able to go straight to bed after a show. He would always need a few drinks to unwind before turning in for the night, of course the first time around he would always head out with the boys and party. Which of course never sat well with his wife, even though he would never dream of doing anything dishonest; he was just out to have fun with his friends. Ironic how life works, now he was pretty much free to do whatever he wanted and he was sitting a small hotel bar by himself.

"Yeah I know, I heard you." Shane heard a familiar voice say behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Ashlee on her phone standing at the entrance to the bar with her back turned towards Shane. "Well I sent the money last week, what you do with it?" She was now yelling into to phone. "This is why I don't send it directly to you, cause you do shit like this! No, I'm not sending anymore, are you crazy?! I work hard for my money." Ashlee noticed that she was getting pretty loud in public and looked around a little embarrassed now. "Look, I gotta go. I'll call you tomorrow. Bye!" she said into the phone ending the call and throwing it in her purse. She then made her way into the bar and picked a lonely table in the corner away from the rest of the bar. Luckily it wasn't crowded but still she was mortified that someone had heard. She still had yet to notice Shane sitting at the bar looking her way. Ashlee sat down and buried her face in her hands trying to compose herself. This was just so typical, she had one of the best nights at work with one of the best matches of her career and with one phone call its was all ruined.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt but are you okay?" a deep voice called to her. She looked up from her hands and was stunned to see Shane standing over her table with a beer in his hand. "You look like you could use a drink, what's your poison?" he asked.

"Shane, Hi!" she said trying to act causal and cover up her embarrassment. "It's okay. I can get it." she said reaching for her purse and digging out her wallet.

"Don't insult me." He said with a friendly smile. "It's on me, what you want?" he asked again.

Ashlee looked up and smiled shyly, "Grey Goose and soda please."

Shane returned quickly with her drink, another beer for himself, and a bowl of peanuts that he had been munching on at the bar. He handed Ashlee her drink, "May I?" he asked motioning to the chair.

"Of course." She answered. "Thanks for the drink."

"Seemed like you needed it after that phone call. None of my business but everything okay?" he asked genuinely concerned, she seemed very upset.

Ashlee took a large sip from her straw then placed the drink down on a napkin. "Just stuff at home. Times like this I'm grateful I travel so much." She said with a soft laugh as she grabbed a couple peanuts from the bowl in front of them.

"Like I said none of my business, I just want to make sure you're okay." He said softly. Something about her being so upset was just not sitting well with him. Shane then slid his hand across the table and placed it on top of hers gently brushing his thumb across her knuckles. Ashlee took a second to enjoy the closeness then glanced down at the gold band on Shane's finger. Quickly reminded of the fact that he was married, she pulled her hand away from beneath his. She was not the type of girl that was going to share drinks and hold hands with a married man, that was not who Ashlee Taylor was.

She took another large gulp from her drink emptying the glass and placed it back on the table, "Thanks for the drink, you really didn't have to." She said getting up from the table and grabbing her bag.

Shane stood up as she did, "Stay for one more?" he asked. There was this sad feeling coming over him when he realized she was leaving.

"No I really shouldn't I have a long day tomorrow. I should head to bed." She answered. The last thing Ashlee wanted to do was leave but she couldn't shake the feeling of guilt coming over her sharing drinks with a married man.

Shane finished his beer quickly, "Well let me at least walk you back to your room, it's late. I should get myself to bed too." He said throwing some money down on the table and signaling to the bartender that they were heading off.

"Oh no, you really don't have to." Ashlee said. "I'll be fine, I'm only up on the 5th floor."

Shane started towards the elevators, "How bout that, me too." He said smiling.

Ashlee realized there was no harm in sharing an elevator together, I mean they were going to the same floor, it would be pretty silly to hang back now. She glanced at him smiling at her, _"God, the man really does a great smile."_ She thought to herself as she followed him through the lobby. _"And nice eyes and nice arms and that tan, oh God was he perfect."_ She kept thinking as she discreetly looked over every visible feature. As they waited for the elevator, Ashlee couldn't help but have her gaze fall to the back of his tight jeans. She couldn't help but bite her lip as she stared at his backside, _"Oh my God, does he just have to have the best butt ever. Ugh, Ash get it together! You're practically drooling on yourself. He's a married man and a part of the McMahon family."_

Shane could feel eyes on him as they stood outside the elevator waiting for the doors to open, _"Is she checking me out?"_ he thought as he looked back and smiled at her. Once he smiled he saw her cheeks bright up pink; he was making her blush. _"Yeah, she's definitely checking me out."_ He was doing a mental touchdown dance in his head. _"Maybe she is into me."_ He finished his thought as the doors finally opened and Shane motioned her to go in first, partly to be a gentleman and partly because well he was a man and enjoyed looking at _her_ ass.

"I caught your match tonight, that finisher was perfect." He complimented.

"Wouldn't have been able to do it without your help. Thanks again." She said.

"You would have gotten it eventually, you've got a lot of talent." He responded.

"Thanks, that means a lot coming from you." She said continuing to smile at Shane.

The elevator stopped at the 5th floor and as both were stepping off he said, "Listen, it's been a long time since my opinion has counted for much around here. I'm just happy I could be of some help."

Ashlee stopped in front of room 517 and leaned against the door, "Don't sell yourself so short, everyone is so excited that you are back. All the veterans that know you are thrilled and all of us that weren't around are all kind of star struck." She explained laughing at the fact that she was admitting that she was one of them.

Shane's loud laugh echoed in the hallway, "Well thank you for the boost in confidence. It really is a great feeling to be back, it's been too long."

Ashlee dug out her room key and inserted it in the door, "Goodnight Shane, I'm sure I'll be seeing you around.

Shane felt like he was on a first date dropping the girl off at her front door. He was fighting the urge to kiss her, he knew that would be inappropriate. _"What about a hug? Would that be inappropriate She did hug me in the ring earlier this afternoon._ ´ Shane was thinking on how to have contact with her in the least creepy and forward way. He decided to skip the hug and maybe just lean in a bit, see how she responded. He very slowly brought his arm up and rested it on the side of the door way and leaned in so his body was closer to hers; he then tilted his face down a bit and in almost a whisper wished her a goodnight. Ashlee didn't know why Shane was standing so close to her but she wasn't complaining. This gave her the opportunity to study his face a little bit. His eyes were a dark brown that were full of both wisdom and kindness; she noticed tiny lines and scars scattered over his forehead and she couldn't help but wonder if they were from earlier years' matches. Ashlee took a deep breath in and took in the smell of him, it was purlely intoxicating; a mix of soap and aftershave. There was a faint smell of some kind of cologne but you could tell it had worn off throughout the day. She kept getting the strange feeling that Shane was waiting for something; an invite inside, a kiss goodnight. She wasn't sure but at this very moment if Shane had asked for anything chances were he would get his way. She was completely infatuated by him. Just as Ashlee was about to suggest perhaps they have one more drink before calling it a night, a shiny reflection caught her eye. The hallway light caught his hand that was resting in the doorway and the shine of his gold wedding band bounced her back to reality. She took a quick glance at it and immediately pulled back.

"Goodnight Shane, I'll see you at the next show." Ashlee declared quickly and made her way into her room without waiting for a response from him. Before Shane had a chance to process what was happening, the door was closed and he was left standing alone in the hallway very confused.

 _"_ _What the fuck just happened?"_ he couldn't help think to himself. _"It was like something just spooked her_ " A very frustrated and confused Shane McMahon thought as he walked down the hall to his room.

 **Hi Everyone hoping you all are enjoying. Let me know in the reviews!**


	4. Admitting the Truth

Shane tossed and turned all night. He was wracking his brain trying to figure out what the hell could have happened in just a few short seconds. He kept replaying everything in his head; he walked her to her room and the entire time he was leaning in towards her she seemed to be leaning back into him. He had seen her checking him out downstairs in the lobby and he knew for a fact that she was blushing when he looked at her. _"So what could it possibly be?!"_ he kept thinking getting more and more aggravated as he moved throughout his room. Glancing at the clock he noticed it was close to 8. His dad had meetings here in Chicago so he wasn't set to meet him at the airport until much later in the afternoon. He had been to Adams Park years ago when he was here for a show before and figured he would prefer a jog through the park rather than a boring run on the treadmill downstairs in a hotel gym. As he put on a pair of black shorts with a white t-shirt and black Jordans he continued to drive himself crazy thinking about Ashlee. _"What was it that he had done wrong? Maybe he misread everything and she wasn't really into him at all. Oh God, how embarrassing!"_

Shane was finishing washing his face and reached for his wedding band that he had slid off as he got ready this morning. This thing was just for show at this point, unfortunately it had no sentimental meaning left to it. He and Marissa had agreed to continue to act like a happy married couple until after Wrestlemania and they told the boys. As he glided the band of gold over his knuckle it finally dawned on him, "Wait a minute, that's it!" he said out loud in his empty hotel room. He was now remembering last night on the two occasions that they got close to one another her eyes had wandered to his left hand and afterwards that was when Ashlee started acting funny and cut him off. _"It's my wedding ring. She doesn't want me because I'm married."_ Shane thought to himself as he dried his face off with a towel and searched for his wallet and room key. He figured this had to be it, he knew he wasn't misreading signs, she was trying to do the honest thing. He knew he and Marissa had agreed that no one was to find out that they were splitting but for the first time in his life, Shane decided that he had to think of his own feelings before anyone else's.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Ashlee didn't sleep well either last night, in fact she was up most of the night thinking about one person. It figures the one person that she has been interested in in a very long time is 100 percent unavailable, life is just so cruel sometimes. However she couldn't help but think why she kept getting the feeling that he was hitting on her; she kept trying to tell herself all morning that when it came to helping her in the ring, checking on her after she was upset last night, and walking her back to her room, he was just being polite. On the other hand, Ashlee couldn't help shake the feeling that Shane was very much flirting with her. Sure married men flirt, they are only human after all and a lot of men are dogs but she just couldn't see Shane acting like that. He didn't seem like that type at all. She was dying to ask Nattie or Nikki about it, after all they were her closet friends in the WWE and had been around the first time Shane was here but she couldn't risk them asking questions or wondering why she was so interested in Shane McMahon. Even though they were very good friends of hers Ashlee knew they still liked their gossip. Her plan would have to be to just try and avoid him, even though she found him very sweet and very attractive she did not condone cheating and would not be involved in someone having an affair. Ashlee decided a shower was exactly what she needed to clear her mind, she had a later flight booked out of Chicago so she was going to take the rare opportunity to just take a day and be lazy. She was flying back home for a few days and was absolutely dreading it, so many things there she just did not want to deal with.

Ashlee took a nice hot shower and let the water run down her back relieving some tension. She took a deep breath in and let the steam clear out her stress. Ashlee was doing her best to try and forget that Shane McMahon was even on the same planet as she was but being in the shower she couldn't help let her mind wander to what he looked like in the shower, water dripping down his amazingly tone body. Realizing that she was still thinking about the one thing she came into the shower to forget she quickly washed the remaining soap off of her body, shut the water off, and hopped out. She heard a banging sound coming from outside the bathroom door and chose to ignore it, it was probably housekeeping. _"No wait, I put the Do Not Disturb sign on before I went to bed last night."_ She thought to herself as she began drying her hair with a towel. _"It must be Nattie seeing if she wanted to workout or go shopping. She was babbling about doing something this morning when they were leaving the arena last night."_ The banging got a little louder this time and she couldn't ignore it any longer. She rolled her eyes and grabbed another towel from behind the bathroom door to wrap around her still wet body. Quickly making her way through the living area she reached for the door handle, it was still pretty early and Nattie was being a tad inconsiderate to others that were still sleeping on her floor.

"Nattie, quit banging on the door, Jesus!" she said annoyingly as she opened the door but once she saw who was actually behind it she was in total shock. "Shane?!" she said startled, "Umm.. what are you doing here?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around herself becoming very aware that she was standing in front of him in just a towel.

Shane looked at the sight in front of him and suddenly he noticed his mouth was very dry and he was having trouble speaking, He knew it was still pretty early but he had never thought in a million years she would be standing in front of him in just a towel. Once he shook some very dirty thoughts from his mind he redirected his attention to the real reason he was here. "Sorry to bother you but are you free this morning?" he asked.

"Am I what?" she asked not understanding where he was going with this.

"Free." He repeated, "I was going to go for a walk down at Adams Park and was wondering if you would…" But he was cut off before he could finish his sentence.

"Shane stop, I really don't think that's a good idea." She said stopping him before he said anymore.

"Because of this?" he asked holding up his left hand exposing his wedding band.

"Excuse me?" she said.

"Because of my ring. Because you don't think it's appropriate to spend time with me because I'm married. Am I right?" he said.

Ashlee was very taken aback by how blunt he was being at the moment. "Well yeah, I'm sure your wife wouldn't be happy and I can't say I would blame her. I really like you and would like to be friends but it might not be the best idea to since I think we are obviously…." She stopped herself from saying what she wanted to say. Even putting it out there would be wrong.

"We are obviously what?" he asked inching his way closer to her. He needed to hear her finish that thought.

"Nothing, forget it." she said. "Look Shane I have to finish getting ready. I think you should go." She insisted.

Shane backed away a little bit, not wanting to cross any lines but he wasn't done talking, "I'll go if you really want me to but I don't think that's what you truly want." Ashlee couldn't say anything. He was right and he knew he was right.

Shane tried one more time and as he spoke he continued inching closer to her until she was against the closet door looking up at him with those bluish grey eyes that Shane hadn't been able to stop thinking about for weeks, "Now I'm going to ask one more time, we are obviously what Ashlee?" he said in almost a whisper that Ashlee found both intimidating but sexy at the same time.

"Attracted to each other." She whispered back half hoping he didn't hear her.

But Shane did hear her and right now he was happier than he could have ever possibly imagined. She was attracted to him, he hadn't misread those signs last night. "But you don't want to spend time with me because I'm married?" he asked.

Ashlee stepped to the side to get away from Shane, she made her way to the other side of the room hoping some distance would make her think better. "Well yeah, look I don't know what kind of marriage you have but normal husbands don't spend time with other women that they are attracted to. I don't want to disrespect your wife like that and quite frankly, you shouldn't either. Now I'm gonna say it one more time, I think you should go Shane. Please." Ashlee said firmly, even though the last thing she wanted was this man walking out the door.

"What if I wasn't married?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" she asked now completely lost.

"Like I said, its pretty simple….what if I wasn't married? Could I take you out then?" He said.

Ashlee couldn't believe what she was hearing, was this guy completely out of his mind?! They had only spent a few hours together TOTAL and now he was talking about not being married anymore! "Shane stop! Okay look you have a family; a wife and children! You shouldn't even be talking about stuff like this. Trust me, my life is complicated enough. I don't need the title of "homewrecker" branded on my forehead." She said now almost in tears, this is not how she saw her morning going.

Shane could tell he was upsetting Ashlee but was determined to try and explain, "That's not what I mean, listen will you please come on a walk with me. I'll explain everything, I promise."

Ashlee was getting the idea that Shane McMahon was used to getting his way all the time and was not taking no for an answer. "Shane, I really don't think this is a good idea." She sighed, how was she ever going to get this man out of her head if he wouldn't leave her alone?

Shane took a deep breath in and took a big risk; he stepped forward again coming only inches away from her and placed his hand softy on her cheek. "Please?" he said in a whisper as he tucked a strand of fallen hair behind her ear, "If you don't like what I have to say, I promise I will back off." Ashlee closed her eyes as Shane's strong hands caressed the side of her face. It sent goosebumps up her spine and she was enjoying the closeness they were sharing once again. "Look, I think the longer I'm in your hotel room the more I am risking someone seeing me and people would get the wrong idea. Meet me down in the lobby in 10 minutes. If you don't come down then I know your answer and will stop bothering you. All I ask is you give me a chance to explain my situation." With one final attempt to persuade her, Shane leaned down and placed his lips to the side of her cheek then quickly exited her hotel room to make his way down to the lobby.

Once the door had shut, Ashlee let her body drop to the bed. Even though it was only a kiss on the cheek, Ashlee felt her whole body get hot. This man really had some sort of power over her and she knew whether she thought it was right or wrong, she would be meeting him downstairs. Taking one more minute to compose herself, Ashlee quickly pulled on a pair of leggings and long tank top with her running shoes and made her way downstairs to the lobby.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Shane smiled brightly when he turned to the ding of the elevator and saw Ashlee step off dressed for a walk in the city park. "Happy you changed your mind." He said as she approached him.

"Yeah well you can be pretty persuasive." She said with a crooked smile. "No tricks McMahon."

Shane put his hands up in a defensive position, "I wouldn't dream of it. Seriously, it's not what you think. Shall we?" he asked gesturing for Ashlee to make her way through the revolving door of the hotel.

Shane was impressed he found the park so quickly since it had been years since he had even been here but in no time at all they had entered the park and started on one of the trails. They were both pretty quiet on the short walk to the park but now that they were completely alone, Shane started "I'm in the process of divorcing." He blurted out.

Ashlee turned to Shane and stopped walking, "Oh. I'm really sorry. Must be hard on your sons." She said with sympathy in her voice.

"Well…" Shane hesitated, "They really don't know yet."

"How does that work?" Ashlee asked as she continued walking ahead with Shane following close behind.

"Technically we haven't split yet. We have only talked about it…" he said but was interrupted pretty quickly.

Ashlee again stopped walking but this time spoke with aggravation in her voice, "I told you no tricks Shane! I was nice enough to agree to hear you out but you aren't doing a good job at convincing me why I should continue this conversation!"

"Woah woah, hold on let me explain!" he said placing his hands on her shoulders firmly. "Listen to me!" he exclaimed desperate to get her to hear him out. "Marissa and I are over. Have been for some time but only in the last few months have we actually been able to admit it to one another. We were very close to making the jump and telling the boys but then I got the call from my dad about Wrestlemania and it's just…Wrestlemania is such a big deal to my family and my boys have never been around for it. I kinda kept them from it so Marissa and I decided to leave things the way they are until after Mania. I don't want it spoiled by news of a divorce."

Ashlee thought for a moment taking everything in and digesting it. She was still very much unsure. Planning on separating or not, he was still married and to make matters worse no one knew they were planning on no longer being together after Wrestlemania. After thinking it all through she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe everything he was saying. "Seems like you guys both have your children's best interest in mind, that's great." She said.

"We don't hate each other. She will always be very special to me and the mother of my children but we just grew apart and don't want to continue on with a marriage that stopped growing years ago." He explained further.

"So no change of a change of heart and reconciliation?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

Shane shook his head immediately, "We tried, few times. She will always be my friend but as far as my wife goes, it's over."

"So…" she said with a suspicious smile, "Where do I fit into all this?" as she spoke she was letting her guard down just a little bit and this time it was her inching towards him.

Shane looked at the woman standing in front of him with a very sexy smile forming across his lips, "Well where do you want to fit in?" he asked.

Ashlee took a seat on one of the rocks off the path and Shane followed close behind. "This all seems too new and too complicated and like I said before my life is chaotic as it is. I don't want to be thought of someone breaking up a happy family."

"Ashlee, look at me." He said as he sat down next to her and turned her chin towards him, "I like you. Like _really_ like you. It's been over two decades since I've felt like this about anyone." He said with a laugh at how pathetic and old that made him sound. "I can't promise that things will happen right away but I'm just asking you not to close the door on us. I have to get past my match at Mania and then we will be filing soon after." He explained.

"So what is it that you are asking me to do? Wait for you?" she asked.

Shane thought for a minute, what was it that he was asking from her? "I know it seems kind of selfish but yeah I guess I am. Ashlee, I can't get you out of my head. Believe me I've tried, a lot!" he said laughing.

"Really?" Ashlee said leaning her head down into Shane's shoulder. "You've been thinking about me?" she finished with a soft sexy smile.

Shane glanced down out of the corner of his eye, not wanting to move too much. He loved the feeling of Ashlee so close to him, "Yeah, is that okay?" he asked.

Ashlee lifted her head off of his shoulder and stretched up so her lips were brushing against his ear, "I guess I have a little secret, I can't stop thinking of you either. In fact right before you came to my room, I was in the shower thinking of you."

Shane swallowed very hard, _"She was thinking of me in the shower?!"_ he thought to himself. He didn't want to ruin this moment and say anything stupid so he returned her sexy smile with his own followed by a wink and leaned down bringing his lips closer to hers. Right before their lips were about to touch for the first time the worst thing Shane could possibly imagine happened. Suddenly the sound of a ringing phone startled both of them breaking them apart.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Shane said very annoyed causing Ashlee to let out a laugh. Sure she was pretty frustrated too but it was so cute seeing Shane so disappointed. "Two seconds, I'm sorry." He said as he answered the phone. "Hello!" he barked into it.

"Dad?" a small voice came across the other end.

"Kenyon?" Shane said softening his voice. "Why aren't you in school?"

"I got sick in math class. Mom had to come pick me up. When are you coming home?" his middle son asked.

"I'm flying back with Pop and Auntie Steph in a few hours" Shane said glancing at his watch to check the time.

"OK, I was just wondering. Sorry to bother you." Kenyon replied.

"You're not a bother buddy. Get some rest, I'll see you later this afternoon." Shane said lovingly to his son.

"Will you wake me if I'm asleep? I miss you." Kenyon said. As excited as he was about his dad being back in WWE, he missed him when he was gone.

"I miss you too Kenny. And we'll see okay? I love you." Shane said.

"Love you too Dad. Bye." Kenyon said hanging up and getting back to laying on the couch in the McMahon living room in New York.

"Sorry about that." Shane said slipping the phone back into his pocket.

"No need to be sorry, dad duty. I understand." Ashlee said, she found it kind of hot seeing what a good dad he was.

"Ha!" Shane let out a laugh, "Dad duty, makes me sound so old."

"I don't think you're old at all." Ashlee said leaning in closer to Shane as she had before. "You are like the hottest guy in the world at the moment. Don't you pay attention to social media?" she asked.

Shane shook his head, "Not really my thing. I only have a Twitter because my sister made me. Said it would be good to follow my workouts and stuff for Wrestlemania."

"Well, I follow it all and you have your own hashtag at the moment. I believe it #silverfox." She said laughing.

Shane buried his face in his hands, "Oh God!" he said mortified, "Tell me you're joking. Only person in my family to go grey in my 20s. I miss my brown hair I used to be pretty cute, ya know." He said pouting.

Ashlee reached up and ran her fingers through Shane's hair, "Well if you want my opinion, I think you're pretty sexy right now." She said as she ran her hand down his neck bringing it down to his torso and stopping at his abs.

Shane was going numb with her touching him so much, he was trying his hardest to control what was happening in his pants, "Ashlee Taylor, better be careful you don't start something you can't finish." He said in a deep silky voice sending shivers up her back. "Shall we head back? I have to meet my dad soon to fly home."

Ashlee followed Shane as they navigated back to the entrance of the park. She wasn't sure what if anything was going to happen but one thing was for sure, she was excited to find out. She just prayed it wouldn't be a mistake or get her heart broken again.

 **What does everything think will happen with these two? Can Ashlee handle Shane still having to act married for several more weeks? Send me some thoughts!**


	5. Which Way to Go?

Shane unlocked his front door dropping his bags down in the hallway. Finally after what seemed like the flight that would never end he was home. When he was walking back from the park with Ashlee his dad had called him saying they were leaving earlier than expected and to get to the airport as soon as possible, he had stuff at the office that needed his attention. Between that and the phone call from his middle son, it was safe to say that the mood between the two had been killed a bit. Shane had escorted Ashlee back to her room promising to either call or text her later in the afternoon, and then quickly headed to the airport to meet with his family. There was a horrible traffic jam on the bridge leading back into New York that Shane sat in for a good hour so needless to say it was nice to finally be home.

"Shane that you?" Marissa called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's me." He responded. "How's Kenny?" he asked as he entered the kitchen heading towards to fridge for a bottle of water.

Marissa was chopping up some peppers on the kitchen counter and from the aroma in the air Shane guessed that fajitas were on the menu for dinner. "He's okay. I think it's just a little stomach bug. If he's not better tomorrow, I'll take him to the doctors. How was your trip?"

Shane simply shrugged his shoulders as he took a sip of water, "It was okay. Nothing special." He answered. He knew that was a complete lie, to be honest the events of this morning had his still smiling but he wasn't about to tell Marissa that. Even though they were in agreement of a divorce in the future, for all intents and purposes he was still her husband and it would definitely not be appropriate to tell his wife that he had a conversation with a new woman about a possible new relationship.

Marissa stopped chopping the peppers and glanced up at her husband, "After over 20 years and you still think I don't know when you're lying." She said smirking.

Shane got a little nervous, there was no way that Marissa could possibly knowing anything , "What you mean?' he said defensively.

Marissa let out a soft laugh, "You're eyes always get bigger when you lie and you always scratch the side of your face….like you're doing right now." She pointed with the knife she was still holding. This caused Shane to swallow hard, " _How on Earth did she find out and why is she so cool with it? Wow, this marriage must be deader than I thought."_ Shane thought to himself .

"Your mom called, told me about the offer your dad made you." She said.

Shane let out a sigh of relief, "Ohhh…. _That's_ what you're talking about." He responded.

Marissa continued looking at her husband. His appearance had certainly changed over the years but she was still very much attracted to him. If anything she thought he got better looking with age. To the outside world, they had the perfect life; high school sweethearts, successful careers, three amazing and healthy children, and a beautiful home. However they just weren't happy anymore and no matter how many times the both of them tried the spark and romance just wasn't there. He was a great provider and amazing father but his days as her husband were numbered. Marissa was dreading having to tell the entire family in fact her sister in law had called her a few times over the past couple weeks and Marissa just didn't have it in her to answer and have to lie. Her and Stephanie had been so close for so many years, she had been there for major milestones in life; when she started high school, when she graduated from college, when she started in WWE, got married, had her daughters. However she could only avoid the McMahons for so long until it got a little weird so when her mother in law called this morning she had to answer. After asking about the boys and how work was going, Linda mentioned that Vince was going to be asking Shane to come back to WWE full time and hopefully accept his old executive role at the office in addition to other responsibilities. Truth was Vince wasn't getting any younger and Linda confessed that Vince really wanted Shane to return to his family's company and eventually run it with his sister. According to Linda, Vince said there was no one else on this planet for the job.

"Well?" Marissa asked after Shane didn't say anything, "What you say?"

Shane stared off into the distance; truth was he didn't have an answer. He told his dad that he would have to think about it. "I told him I wasn't sure, asked him if I could think about it. Told him I just want to focus on Mania and give him an answer after." He responded.

Marissa looked down with a sad look on her face, "Looks like there will be a lot of news coming after Mania." She said.

Even though they weren't staying together, Shane still hated seeing his wife upset, "Hey" he said making his way around the kitchen island and pulling her into a hug, "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." She said wiping a stray tear that had fallen from her eye.

Shane lifted her chin up forcing her to look at him, "Thought this is what you wanted" he said whispering in case little ears were listening.

"It is. I mean… we both agreed, it's what we wanted. Just doesn't make it any easier." She said.

"I know" he said kissing her softly on the cheek.

Desperate to try and make a connection with her husband Marissa turned her lips towards Shane's and kissed him hoping to feel the old flame that once burned so hot between them. Old habits die hard, and Shane found himself opening his mouth to his wife and connecting his tongue with her's. Marissa wrapped her arms around the same neck she had held so close for the past 20 something years and continued exploring his mouth. He was such a good kisser, always had been and deep down there were still feelings there. She couldn't help but think that maybe this marriage could be saved. She felt Shane start to pull away but was desperate to somehow keep this going. She started kissing up and down his neck and placing small bites on his earlobe, she remembered how crazy that used to get him.

"Riss?" Shane whispered after clearing his throat, "What are you doing?"

Marissa looked up into her husband large brown eyes and gave him a small shy smile, "Why don't we go out after dinner? I'll call Dahlia and see if she can keep an eye on the boys and we can sneak down the street for a drink."

Shane was very confused. Just yesterday when he talked to her, she pretty much wanted nothing to do with him, now today they were making out in the kitchen. Unable to break her heart, he accepted the invitation and decided to go check on the boys. He greeted Rogan and Declan who were playing a video game in the living room and then poked his head in Kenyon's room.

"Hey bud." Shane said to his middle son. "How ya feeling?"

"Dad, you're home!" Kenyon smiled brightly but his voice was pretty raspy from being sick. "Still feel like crap, mom's only letting me eat chicken broth and crackers."

"Probably the best for your stomach right now dude." He responded has he tosseled his son's brown hair. "Try and get some more rest, I got some work to do. I'll come back and check on you in a little bit. If you're feeling a little better maybe I can sneak you some ice cream after dinner." He said with a wink making his son smile. Shane kissed him on the forehead and headed out of the room.

Shane sat in his home office for over an hour returning phone calls and responding to emails for work. He was still running his Chinese pay-per-view company, You-OnDemand, and now that he was back at WWE and training like crazy for Wrestlemania, work was beginning to really catch up to him. He got the impression that his associates at You-OnDemand were starting to get a little aggravated that Shane wasn't as available as he used to be but he made a commitment to WWE and he intended on juggling both for as long as he could. After responding to his 13th email, he sat back from his computer and closed his eyes for a second, he was starting to feel a migraine coming on. He was lost in thoughts about his dad's offer. _"I could always step back from You and still be on the board. I can't let that company go entirely, it's mine, I started it from the beginning. But WWE is family, its home, its everything I've ever wanted to do. I've proved myself, I can go back now. But that means working with Dad and having to report to him again. Can I do that? The fighting, the tension. I left that behind. But it feels right being there again…."_ Shane laid his head back in his leather office chair and let out a huge breath. Funny how history repeats itself, 7 years ago he was making the biggest decision of his life to leave the company he loved so much, now he was deciding if he should return to it. He decided a run was exactly what he needed to clear his head. Between his dad's offer and Marissa blowing hot and cold lately, Shane was ready to lose his mind.

As Shane jogged through the streets of New York he kept thinking of his wife. _"First she wants a divorce, now it seems she wants to give it another try."_ He thought now more confused than ever. She was the first one to even say the word 'divorce', it wasn't him. Shane couldn't help but feel a ping of guilt for kissing her, they still kissed in front of the kids from time to time but they hadn't kissed like that in a very long time. Spending the morning with Ashlee in Chicago was great too and he had promised her nothing complicated. Little did he know when he made that promise that his wife would be trying to jump his bones the second he walked in door. He couldn't hurt her like that, it wasn't fair. _"Maybe I was wrong for involving Ashlee before him and Marissa officially ended things. But to my knowledge when I left for Chicago, we were over. Is she trying for the kids or does she really want this marriage to work?"_

Shane sped up and jogged across 42nd Street. For right now he didn't want to think about any of this shit. He turned up his headphones and continued his run.

 **What is going to happen with Shane and his future at WWE? Is he going to stay with Marissa and save his marriage? If so what happens to his relationship with Ashlee?**

 **Let me know your thoughts!**


	6. A Promise is a Promise

"Can we get two more glasses of the Cabernet please?" Marissa asked the waiter getting more wine for her and her husband.

"Woah Riss, slow down. I gotta get up for a meeting in the morning pretty early." Shane said choking on the wine he had yet to finish.

"Oh come on. When was the last time we've really been out just the two of us." Marissa said slurring her words a bit. Shane could tell his wife was pretty buzzed at this point. He just chuckled and shook his head at her as he tipped his glass emptying the remaining contents of it. He glanced at his phone to see if he had any messages from Ashlee and unfortunately there wasn't any. He had texted her before he and Marissa had left the house apologizing for not calling today but promising to in the morning after his meeting. He was getting a little worried that he hadn't heard back yet.

"Why do you keep looking at your phone?" Marissa asked.

"Work." He simply responded hoping that would satisfy her.

"At this hour?" She surprisingly asked. Shane never did business after dinner unless it was a big crisis or a deadline he was supposed to meet. She watched as her husband shrugged it off. She was about to push the issue a little further but before she could open her mouth they were greeted by one of Shane's old college buddies.

"Shane O'Mac! I don't believe it, what's going on kid?!" he said pulling Shane in for a hug.

"Pauly! What's up brother!" Shane responding smiling at his old friend, "Marissa, you remember Paul?"

"Of course, how are you?" Marissa said plastering a smile on her face and hugging the man.

"I'm doing well. Beautiful as I remembered. McMahon, you're a lucky bastard." Pauly said slapping Shane on the shoulder. "Hey come over to the bar real quick, you remember Timmy Young don't ya?"

"Course I do. He here? Honey, I'll be right back." Shane said playing the role of happy husband as he had been doing for some time now.

Marissa nodded and watched as the two men made their way over to the bar. She saw a tall blonde man pull Shane into a very brotherly hug. Marissa didn't recognize the other man which she found odd since she and Shane went to the same college and hung out with mostly all the same people back then. As she was trying to place him in her mind, she felt the table vibrate and the light from Shane's phone caught her eye. She was never one to not trust her husband and was never one to snoop through his phone but as she glanced down she couldn't help but see that he had an incoming text. Without even thinking her eyes narrowed down and saw the name 'Ashlee'. Looking up towards the bar she noticed that her husband was still engaged in a conversation with the other two men and his back was towards her. She just couldn't help herself and reached for the phone, she had no idea who this Ashlee person was and she just had to ease her mind that it was nothing of importance. With one more look up to make sure Shane wasn't coming back she opened the text,

 **It's no problem. I've been at the gym most of the night. Call me whenever you have time. Thank you again for this morning, sucks it got cut short. Talk soon!**

Marissa felt her whole body tense up. " _Oh my god, he's seeing someone! He's actually talking to another woman!"_ It was taking everything she had to hold it together and not cause a scene. They had talked about splitting up but a part of her thought maybe there was still a chance. She looked over at Shane once again to see if he was still distracted and when she was satisfied that he was she scrolled up to see what he had texted her first.

 **Hey there beautiful, sorry I had to run off this morning. Was hoping to have a little more time but I've been swamped with work since I got home. Just wanted to send a quick text to tell you that I'm thinking of you. I'll call you in the morning. Have a good night!**

Reading this text and seeing him call another girl beautiful made Marissa almost sick to her stomach. Here she was making an idiot out of herself, kissing him in the kitchen and he already had someone else lined up! She felt her eyes filling up with tears, she had to get out of here. As she was searching for her purse she was jolted back to reality by a deep voice.

"Hey, you okay?" Shane asked standing over the table. He noticed his wife looking white as a ghost and he swore he could see tears starting to come down her face. "What's wrong?" he asked again.

Marissa stood up and started to storm out but not before she looked back at Shane, "You son of a bitch." She said nastily hoping no one else heard, she was not one for causing a scene in public. Shane was now very confused, he quickly threw money down on the table and ran out of the bar after his wife.

"Hey! Hey! Marissa, stop!" he said as he caught up with her at the end of the block.

"Don't!" she said turning around. She now had tears streaming down her face and makeup all down her cheeks.

"Marissa, what is wrong?" Shane was pretty much begging at this point. He had never seen his wife act like this.

"You've already moved on haven't you?" She exclaimed through sobbing.

"What are you talking about?" Shane asked throwing his hands up in the air.

"Don't you dare thinking about lying to me Shane McMahon!" She said pointing her finger in his chest, "Who's Ashlee!" She said in full on hysterics by this point. Shane's eyes grew wide and he was silent trying to think how Marissa even knew about Ashlee.

"Your new girlfriend sent you a text!" Marissa shouted reading Shane's mind. He quickly dug into his jacket pocket and noticed her text on the screen. "You already sleep with her?!" she continued shouting causing people walking by to stare.

"Shhh…" Shane said trying to quiet her down, the last thing he needed was a tabloid getting all this and being in the news in the morning. "No, it's not like that. We haven't done anything. Please calm down."

"Then what is she thanking you for from this morning Shane?! You fucked another woman didn't you?!" Marissa was beyond consoling at this point and he knew it.

"Marissa! Stop!" Shane was shouting now. "Listen to me, I'm sure you don't want to end up on fucking TMZ in the morning and your SONS seeing it, do you?!" Marissa knew he had a point, no matter how mad she was at the moment, when people know who you are, you just can't make scenes in public like this. Once Shane was convinced that she was calming down he glanced across the street to her favorite 24 hour bakery. Shane couldn't count all the times that they would walk down to this spot before they had the kids for a midnight treat. "Come on." He said practically pushing her across the street and into the doors of the bakery. Marissa protested the whole time but eventually Shane was able to convince her to take a seat while he went to go order a couple cannoli's a piece of carrot cake to share. Marissa grabbed her compact out of her purse and tried to clean herself up as best she could. Luckily for them there were only a few other people in there; Shane returned with their usual order and sat down next to her.

She was still pretty upset but accepted the fork that he passed to her. Shane let her take a bite before he started explaining. "Nothing has happened between Ashlee and me. She was thanking me for a walk. We went on a walk in Chicago Marissa, that's it. I swear."

Marissa set her cannoli down on the plate, "You forgot the milk." She responded. Shane mentally rolled his eyes but immediately got up to get his wife a glass of milk. As he paid for the milk he couldn't help but flashback to when Marissa was pregnant with Declan and they came here practically every night. Yup, definitely a lot of memories in this place. He set the glass in front of Marissa and watched her take a long sip.

"Who is she?" Marissa finally asked.

"Her name is Ashlee Taylor, she's one of the woman wrestlers, I meant her at the show."

"And you like her?" Marissa asked sadly.

Shane took a deep breath and reached his hand over the table to grab Marissa's. "Riss, do you see this marriage working? Because if you do, I will do whatever it is you want to make it work. If you want to do counseling, we can try that."

Shane was surprised by the words that were coming out of his mouth but if Marissa wanted to give them another shot he would do that for her and the boys.

Marissa looked down at their hands interlocked on the table and smiled sadly, "You would do that for me?" she asked.

Shane nodded his head, "You are my wife, I made a commitment to you and I won't throw in the towel if you don't want to."

Marissa was quiet for a minute deep in thought, "Shane?" she finally said breaking the silence.

"Riss?" he responded.

"What happened with us?" she asked.

"Not really sure. Life gets in the way and you turn around 20 years later and you have turned into two different people. I still love you." He said returning her sad smile with one of his own.

"You're just not _in love_ with me anymore." She said finished for him. Shane didn't respond, he didn't have to though. His eyes told Marissa everything she needed to know. Truth was she felt the same way he did. They had three wonderful children together and so many beautiful memories but Marissa McMahon was just not _in love_ with Shane McMahon either. "Do you like this girl?" She asked.

Shane shrugged his shoulders, "That's not what's important right now." He answered.

Marissa let out a soft but sad laugh, whenever Shane didn't want to answer a question he would do something like that hoping to avoid it. "Shane, do you like this girl?" she asked again.

Shane reached across the table and took the glass of milk and finished it in one big gulp, "We are not having this conversation Marissa." He said trying to hide an uncomfortable laugh.

"Can you just make me one promise? Don't start anything with someone else while we are still technically together. It would be hard for the boys to understand and I don't want to be made out looking like a fool."

"I can promise that." He said patting his wife's hand gently.

"And don't sneak behind my back and text her all the time. It's just too weird. You are still _my_ husband for the time being." Marissa said putting emphasis on the word 'my'.

"I can promise that too." Shane said. He understood where his wife was coming from and quite frankly didn't know what he would do if roles were reversed. He was happy that they had this talk and it made sense to put the breaks on stuff with Ashlee for the time being. He would still see her at shows but that would have to be all the communication they would have for the time being.

The two finished up their desserts and headed home to hopefully three sleeping children.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Shane got up the next morning for his telephone conference. The bad thing about doing business in China was the major time difference which meant having to get up ridiculously early to speak to people over there. However this gave him the majority of the rest of the day off that he was dedicating to training for Wrestlemania. He dropped Declan and Rogan off at school; Marissa would be taking Kenyon to the doctors this morning. Then he headed off to the gym to start his workout. He sat down on one of the benches in the locker room and pulled out his phone. With everything going on with Marissa last night he didn't get a chance to even read the text that Ashlee sent last night. He read it and smiled; he really was crazy about this girl but he made a promise to Marissa and a promise is a promise. He decided a simple text wouldn't hurt, he did promise her he would speak to her today after all.

 **Shane: Good Morning! I was going to call but wasn't sure if it was too early. Just hope you have a great day.**

After about a minute his phone rang and he looked at the caller ID and saw Ashlee's name flash across the screen. He looked around the locker room quickly and when he was convinced he was alone he answered.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Good Morning!" Ashlee responded brightly.

"You're awfully chipper this morning." He laughed.

"What can I say, I'm a morning person." She said smiling on her end. "Just got out of the shower and was happy to see your text." Shane tried to shake the thoughts of Ashlee in the shower from his head but truth was easier said than done.

The two continued to make small talk, asking what each had planned for the day and their schedules for the upcoming week.

Finally after a few minutes on the phone Ashlee finally found the courage to say what she had been thinking since Shane left for the airport yesterday, "Is it bad that I miss you?"

"Why would that be bad?" Shane asked smiling on the other end of the phone.

"I think you know why." She said hinting at the big pink elephant in the room of him being a married man.

Shane sighed on his end of the phone, he had no idea how his life has gotten so complicated in the last 24 hours. "Listen, I don't want you worrying about any of that. It's on me not you. Like I said immediately after Mania we will be filing." He debated in his head whether or not to tell her about all of last night's events but thought it would be better to keep that part to himself. He had watched his dad cheat on his mom for the majority of his childhood and always promised himself even as a little kid, that when he grew up and had a family he would never put them through that. However he couldn't help but think that this was different, he wasn't cheating and his marriage was only for appearances at the moment.

"But we obviously can't even be seen together. Wrestlemania is still over a month away." Ashlee said with a sad tone to her voice that was almost breaking Shane's heart. He didn't have an answer for this that would make her feel better.

"I'll think of something, I promise." Was all he could think to say.

"It's okay Shane I understand, I don't want to risk you getting caught. You need to think about your kids." Ashlee said. Truth was she did understand the predicament that Shane was in. Fact was they haven't even kissed yet but that was all Ashlee could think of doing right now.

"Ashlee, I said I would think of something, okay?" He said in a somewhat aggressive way that was kinda turning Ashlee on.

"Okay, Okay." She said laughing "Don't have to get all bossy."

Shane let out a very playfully growl to relieve some built up tension he had that sent goosebumps up Ashlee's back.

"I wish you would have kissed me before you left." She said pouting in a flirty voice.

Shane felt his blood start to heat up, "Trust me babe, if I had I wouldn't have been able to stop."

 **How is Shane going to be able to keep his promise to his wife but still get to know Ashlee? Will Marissa find out they are still talking?**

 **I want people to understand how I am writing Marissa's character, she is desperate to stay friends with Shane for the sake of her kids but also doesn't want to be made a fool if her husband is caught with another woman.**

 **Let me know your thoughts and if you're liking the direction of the story!**


	7. Selfish

Weeks had past and the WWE was entering the Wrestlemania week. Shane was doing his best to keep his promise to Marissa, and limit his interaction with Ashlee but it was easiest said than done. Luckily the script didn't call for him to be at the shows every week but when he was it was impossible for him to stay away from her. He would send her text messages when he could but their contact was limited to seeing one another at shows.

Ashlee understood and was trying her hardest to respect Shane and his family but the truth was even with the little time they had spent together, she was crazy about this guy. Her heart would race every time she saw her screen light up with a text from him. It was always something sweet like how much he missed her or that he was thinking about her. She hadn't told anyone, even her closest friends, about her potential relationship with Shane. Truth was she wasn't sure anyone would understand and she didn't blame them if they didn't. This was not a normal situation and she was just praying that he didn't get her heart broken.

Raw tonight was in Brooklyn, so not far from Shane's house in Manhattan. He loved when it was close by because that meant no crazy traveling. Between all of his training and WWE appearances, it was getting difficult to keep up with his other businesses and he could tell his partners were getting a little annoyed with him. The boys were begging their parents to go to this last Raw before Wrestlemania but since they would be missing days of school when they would be heading to Dallas, Marissa and Shane decided against it.

Shane left for Brooklyn a little earlier in the afternoon than planned to stop by the motorcycle shop he co-owned, Indian Larry's. He hadn't stopped by in almost a month because of his crazy schedule and he knew that Bobby, the other owner, was getting a tad aggravated that Shane had been MIA. "Well well well, will you look who finally decided to grace us with his presence! The famous Shane-O Mac of the WWE!" Bobby exclaimed sarcastically.

"Holy shit, can I get your autogragh?!" Joey, one of the mechanics, said joining in on the fun.

Shane put his head down and raised his hands up in defeat, "Yeah, yeah I know I know. I'm sorry I haven't been around much. Cut me a break assholes!" he said joking with his buddies. He walked over to the fridge behind the desk and grabbed a can of beer from it. He had a big segment with the Undertaker where he would be jumping from the ring to the announce table and he hadn't done that move in almost a decade. A beer would surly calm his nerves a bit. "Look…" he said reaching into his jacket pocket, "Consider this a peace offering. Tickets for tonight's show. Bring the kids." He handed the guys 10 tickets so they could bring their families along for the fun.

"How's the family McMahon?" Bobby asked pulling up a chair next to his friend.

"They're good. Kids are going insane about next week. Just happy I can do this for them." Shane answered.

"And Marissa? Haven't seen her around her much." His friend continued to question.

Shane took another large gulp from his beer before throwing the empty can in the trash. "She's good too." He answered avoiding eye contact as if his life depended on it. He had a feeling people were starting to talk since it was very rare to have a sighting of the two of them together.

Bobby was just not buying it, "Everything okay with the two of you?" he said in his very thick New York accent.

Shane let out a giant sigh, he knew he wasn't fooling anyone especially someone who had been not only a great business partner but good friend for the past 10 years. "We're splitting up."

"You're what?!" Bobby stammered chocking on his own beer. "Are you serious?"

Shane nodded his head, "We've been talking for awhile but when this whole return thing came up we didn't want to spoil it for the boys so after the excitement dies down, we will be filing."

"Wow, I mean I just thought you guys would be together forever. You okay?" Bobby asked as he got up to grab a couple more beers, he had a feeling his friend needed one.

"I've had time to get used to it.." Shane stated simply as his mind wandered to different thoughts. Besides Ashlee this was the only person he had told but he knew his secret was safe with Bobby. Shane's eyes wandered around the showroom and an idea sprung on him. "Hey Bob? How would you feel if I took one of these new bikes out for the night?" he asked with a small smile starting to form on his lips.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Ashlee sat in the Diva's locker room with her mouth practical on the floor. Shane really just sucker punched The Undertaker in the face! Trying to keep her emotions to herself was a little harder than she thought and it didn't take long for some of the other girls to notice that Ashlee was a little too involved in the segment. No one said anything but she was definitely getting some odd looks thrown her way. Once Shane took to the top rope, everyone knew what was coming and Ashlee couldn't help but hold her breath. The landing looked perfect but for a minute he laid pretty motionless. "Is he okay?" Ashlee exclaimed jumping from her chair to try and get a closer look at the monitor.

"Umm… Yeah I'm sure he's fine." Charlotte responded definitely a little confused at why Ashlee was so worried. Of course everyone would be upset if something happened to Shane or any of the other talent but Ashlee was just acting a little too concerned. Once Shane stood up Ashlee was able to let out her giant breath in a sigh of relief. Taking the bottom of his shirt, Shane wiped the sweat that was coming from his face revealing very quickly a set of very tone very sexy abs. The entire women's locker room all took a second to admire the view on the screen, none of them expected him to look like that underneath his shirt. Ashlee quietly thought of how she couldn't wait to see that body up close and personal, she just didn't know when.

Ashlee had a match later that night and it was a pretty good one. Her and Sasha Banks had a bit of a rivalry going into Wrestlemania and the crowd was really enjoying it. She walked through the curtain and after some praise from people in the back she made her way back to the locker room to clean up. After a quick shower she reached into her suitcase to grab her phone. She noticed an unread text and smiled brightly when she saw who it was from.

 **Shane: Killer match, you looked great out there. Meet me in the back parking lot, 10 minutes. I have a surprise**!

Ashlee glanced at the time the message was sent, which as 7 minutes ago. She quickly gathered her things and hurried out back.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Ashlee was walking around the parking load navigating around cars, trucks, and trailers trying to find any sign of Shane. Right when she was about to send him a text asking where he was, she rounded around a big production truck and spotted him leaning against an all black motorcycle. With dark jeans and a leather jacket he looked like the total bad boy. "There you are. I was starting to think you were blowing me off." He said with that gorgeous smile that made Ashlee's knees go weak.

"Sorry, I was in the shower." She said as she made her way closer to him.

"Now that's a nice visual." Shane responded in a super flirty sexy voice as he pulled her in for a hug. Ashlee took a second to breathe in his scent. Unlike her, he didn't have time to shower so he smelt of little sweat and a touch of cologne that he must have been wearing from earlier. It still turned Ashlee on though, very manly. Even though they weren't seeing a lot of one another, she still loved the feeling of his strong arms wrapped around her body.

"Nice bike." She said admiring the motorcycle that Shane was standing in front of.

"You ever been on one?" he asked with a mischievous smile on his lips. Ashlee responded shaking her head no. Reaching behind him he grabbed a helmet handing it to her. "First time for everything, come on." He said as he swung his leg around getting on the bike.

Ashlee looked around nervously. They were in their work parking lot. There were so many people here tonight, someone was bound to see them and if they did how were they supposed to explain that to anyone? Shane picked up on what Ashlee as thinking right away, "Everyone's inside. There's a good hour and half left of the show, we're good. Now come on….unless of course you're scared." He said teasing her.

Ashlee narrowed her eyes at Shane fighting back a laugh, "Is that a challenge McMahon?"

"If that's what its gonna take to get your cute little butt on the back of this bike, than yes. It's a challenge." He said playfully. With one final look around to make sure no one was watching, Ashlee quickly put the helmet on her head and hopped on the back of the bike using Shane's broad shoulders to support her. "Hold on tight." He said looking back with a smile, there lips so close to one another's. Once he felt her wrap her arms tightly around his waist, he reeved the engine shooting out of the crowded parking lot onto the highway. Ashlee couldn't help but squeal with excitement, this was so much fun. It was a cool night and racing down the highway with the wind crashing against them made her feel so free. She snuggled up a little closer to Shane's body half to keep warm and half just because she loved being so close to him. Few more minutes down the highway and finally Shane pulled off an exit and down underneath the overpass. He slowed the bike down and pulled into an empty dirt parking lot that over looked the bay. It was pretty dark and their only source of light was a couple flickering street lights but from what Ashlee could see it was very pretty. Shane took hold of her hand and guided her over to some sandy dunes that overlooked the water. Ashlee took a deep breath and took in the salt air smell.

After sitting in silence for a little too long, Ashlee finally broke it, "Looks like your trainings going well" was all she could think to say. Truth was she was crazy about this guy but still barely knew him and what she did know was that according to the entire world he was a happily married man.

"I don't want to talk about my training." He answered seriously.

"OK…Well what do you wanna talk about then?" she asked.

"Nothing." He simply said and before Ashlee could respond she was shocked to find Shane's lips immediately on hers. She had a thousands things going through her head at that very moment, they agreed that for the time being, nothing would happen. However here he was kissing her and kissing her hard. Kissing her like he wanted to as badly as she had been wanting to kiss him. So she decided for the first time in her life to not think and be selfish. Shane had made his way into her mouth and was kissing her deeply. He placed his hands on her neck almost as a way of pulling her closer to him. Dropping to the ground, Ashlee straddled Shane's lap and continued kissing, never separating once. Shane finally pulled back, looking into Ashlee's eyes with nothing but want and desire in them. He dropped his face and kissed all the way down her neck before he stopped at her chest. Looking up as if asking for permission, Shane was given the access he was searching for when Ashlee zipped down her sweatshirt. He was pleased to see she had on a pretty low cut tank top which gave him the perfect opportunity. Ashlee tilted her head back and let out a soft moan as she felt Shane's hands on her. Very gently he reached inside her shirt, moving her bra to the side, and squeezed her nipple. "You're so hot." He whispered in her ear. Shane had never been so turned on in his life and without thinking he dropped his mouth one more time, this time taking her in his mouth and pleasing her with his tounge. "Oh my god." Ashlee breathed out. "That feels amazing."

Shane couldn't stop. This was not what he had planned for the night but seeing her and feeling her body so close to him, he just couldn't help himself. Sure, he knew this was wrong on a certain level but he just didn't care. Everything between him and Marissa was for show right now. His entire life up until now was about making other people happy; his dad, his sister, people at the office, his wife, even the public. For once Shane wanted to be selfish and do something that made him happy.

With Ashlee still on his lap, he slowly reached down and began to unbutton her jeans. Ashlee let out another moan, this time a little louder because both knew there was no turning back. Shane slowly slid his hand inside of her pants and was even more turned on when he realized she wasn't wearing any panties. Couple more inches and Shane slid two fingers up inside of Ashlee feeling how wet she was. He then used his thumb to flick her clit causing Ashlee to jump up at the sensation. As he continued playing with her, he was now looking her in the eyes desperate to see her reaction to his touch. "You're so wet." He said against her ear as he kissed down her neck again. "Like really fucking wet." He added in amazement. Shane had to admit to himself, he was happy that even after so long he could still satisfy a woman.

Meanwhile Ashlee was having a little fun of her own, exploring Shane's body. Being on his lap made it kind of difficult to ignore the hardness that was building in Shane's pants. As he took his time playing with her, Ashlee stroked Shane over his pants and was getting even more turned on. Just from feeling on the outside it wasn't hard to figure out that Shane McMahon was certainly not lacking in that department either. "Can I?" Ashlee asked looking up with a sexy devious smile. It took Shane a minute to understand what she was asking but once Ashlee stroked the zipper to Shane's pants, he was up to speed on what she wanted. Ashlee took Shane in her mouth and that's when Shane pretty much gave Ashlee the control he was looking for. He still continued to tease her nipples but for the first time in his life Shane was being dominated by a woman and he was loving it. "You are so incred.." and before Shane could even finish his sentence they were once again interrupted by the ring of Shane's phone. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" He exclaimed. Grabbing the phone from his jacket pocket he looked at Ashlee with a huge 'I'm sorry' look. "I'm going to murder this girl." Ashlee heard Shane grumble under his voice.

"Yes, Stephanie!?" Shane barked into the phone.

"Where are you?!" Steph yelled back at her brother.

"I'm around." He answered dryly.

"Around where? Dad wants to discuss this week. Get to his office now!" Steph ordered her brother which was only pissing him off even more.

"What's there to dicuss? I'm flying to Dallas on Wednesday. We can talk then." Shane said.

"Dad's office now! He's losing his shit because he thinks you left." Steph was practically screaming into the phone.

"He can call me if he wants to talk." Shane said being very stubborn.

"Shane McMahon!" Stephanie was now having a full on freak out on her end.

"Alright alright, I'll be there soon." He sighed.

"Thank you. Wait… where did you even go?" Steph asked now curious what her brother was up to.

"I'll see you soon Stephanie, goodbye!" Shane scolded hanging up immediately to avoid any further questions.

Turning to Ashlee he sighed once again. "Maybe it's for the best, it didn't go any further." She said before he could say anything. Shane walked over to her pulling her close and planted one last long passionate kiss on her, causing Ashlee to moan into it.

"Soon, I promise." He said stroking her cheek affectionately.

The ride back to the arena was quick much to Ashlee's dismay, she could hold onto Shane's body forever. Unfortunately it was too risky to share one more kiss so they said their goodbyes with a quick hug before going their separate ways. As Shane walked back into the building to see what was so damn important with his dad, he didn't notice he walked right by his sister who had witnessed the young Ashlee Taylor getting off his bike. "What the hell?!" Steph said out loud.

Hi **All! I know its been wayyyy too long since an update and I am so sorry. Just moved and between getting a house together and chasing a baby around I havent had a moment to myself. Hope you all are sill interested an I promise I won't go so long this time around!**

 **Stephanie knows somethings up, is she going to confront her brother about it?**

 **What's going to happen Wrestlemania week before Shane's family arrives and will Ashlee and Marissa have a run in? Stay tuned and review your thoughts!**!


	8. Cat's Outta the Bag

"Steph, slow down. What are you talking about?" a very tired, very cranky Paul asked his wife. He was in the middle of prepping stuff for the next NXT show when his wife in hysterics barged into the conference room he was hiding out in.

"My brother! I saw him with Ashlee Taylor! She was getting off the back of his bike, they were hugging!" Steph was talking a mile a minute and Paul knew it was going to be a miracle to calm her down.

"Hold on, are you sure? Shane? No way, I think you misunderstood." Paul said. He knew his brother-in-law and there was no way he was a cheater.

"Paul! I know what I saw. I don't think they went out for fucking ice-cream!" Steph bellowed at her husband, "Oh my God, poor Marissa and those poor boys. What are they gonna do when they find out?" Steph was now pacing the room trying to figure out what she should do.

"Woah, woah…" Paul said jumping up from his seat and stopping his wife dead in her tracks, "Don't you dare go off and call Marissa. You really should stay out of this. Please promise me Stephanie!"

"Paul, this is my family! I can't stay out of it. If my brother is having an affair, I'm sorry but Marissa needs to know. I have to protect my nephews." Steph shouted as she dug her phone out of her back pocket.

Paul immediately grabbed the phone out of her hand to prevent his wife from doing something stupid. "Paul!" Steph screamed at her husband, "why are you protecting him?"

"I'm not!" he yelled back trying to get her attention, "Look, go talk to your brother. I'm sure he's still in with your dad. Get all the facts before you go and potentially ruin a marriage."

"He already ruined it when he started sneaking around with a younger woman. Paul, Marissa has been my sister since I was a little girl. I can't let my brother…" Steph was stopped when her husband placed his hand over her mouth to finally silence her.

"Steph, go talk to him. Now!" Paul said having just about enough of this conversation.

Steph let out a heavy sigh and started for the door. When she noticed her husband wasn't following she turned around, "Well aren't you coming?" she asked.

"Oh no!" Paul responded putting his hands up in defense, "I learned many years ago to stay out of McMahon family drama. I'm not going anywhere near that conversation." Stephanie didn't even bother protesting, she knew there was no convincing Paul so she simply left the conference room in search of her brother.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Alright so that's it. You will fly in Wednesday afternoon. Head straight for the stadium and we can start planning this match. I think you're insane but the leap off of the cell will get everyone on their feet." Vince said as he made a couple notes to himself. He was still trying to decide if he wanted to save this match for the very end, after all he got the idea people were most excited to see this one above all the others.

"I feel people are expecting it, besides I've jumped from higher before." Shane answered with a smug smile.

Suddenly Vince and Shane were startled by a very pissed off looking Stephanie barging into the room, slamming the door behind her. "Shane, I am going to ask you one question and I want the truth!" she yelled getting in her brother's face. "Are you having an affair?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shane yelled back defensively at his sister.

"Don't lie to me Shane McMahon, I want to truth!" Steph responded shouting at her brother.

"Stephanie, have you lost you're mind?!" Vince interrupted. He knew his son would never in a million years do anything like that. He had no idea what had gotten into his daughter.

"Why don't you ask Shane about his bike ride this evening?" Steph said to her father without taking he stare away from her brother. Shane's eyes grew big when he realized his sister must have seen him and Ashlee earlier.

"It's not what you think." Shane said in defense.

"See, Stephanie you obviously misunderstood something. Now can we move on with this nonsense of your brother being unfaithful." Vince said trying to regain order amongst his children.

"Marissa and I am getting a divorce." Shane blurted out.

"What?!" Steph and Vince exclaimed simultaneously.

Shane let out a sigh, "We were going to tell everyone after Mania. We didn't want to upset the boys and ruin everything or them."

"Why?" Steph asked still in a state of shock. The one relationship she always looked up to was her brother's. Even her own parents didn't have a marriage as strong as theirs.

Shane shrugged his shoulders, "Grew apart, I don't really know anymore but I am not having an affair. Marissa knows everything and we will be telling the boys after we get back from Dallas."

"So wait, Marissa knows about Ashlee?" Steph asked.

"Wait, Ashlee?" Vince asked,"As in Ashlee Taylor?"

Shane nodded his head, "Yeah, I took her on the bike a little while ago. She and I have been getting to know each other. Nothing serious but yes, Marissa knows I have been getting to know her."

"Little young for you Shane-O, don't ya think?" Vince said with laughter in his voice.

"Really?" Shane said looking up at his dad, "You really wanna go their old man?" Shane said sending that jab his father's way.

"Seriously?! Guys, this isn't funny. Shane, why haven't you guys tried therapy? You are really going to throw away almost 20 years of marriage without a fight." Steph said feeling tears fill her eyes.

"Steph, we have tried fixing it. Plenty of times. Trust me, she feels the exact same way. We don't hate each other. Which is exactly why we are doing this now, before we do hate each other. Believe me, its for the best." Shane explained.

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Steph got up the next morning still in a fog. She still couldn't believe that her brother was getting a divorce. She grew up seeing them so in love. She called her assistant letting her know that she would be little late coming into the office. There was a phone call she had to make and she didn't want to do it at the office.

"Riss?" Steph said into the phone when Marissa finally picked up on the last ring.

"Hey Steph! How's it going?" Marissa responded.

"Um..good. How are the boys?" Steph asked trying to figure out how she was going to bring this up.

"They are getting so excited for Wrestlemania, I can't even control them this week." She laughed.

"They are going to have a blast. Look, I called because… well I…. did you talked to Shane last night?" Steph said tripping over her words.

"No actually, he got in late. I was already asleep and he left super early to hit the gym I think." Marissa answered.

"He told me." Steph blurted out.

"Told you?" Marissa questioned even though she knew what her sister in law was talking about.

"He told me about the divorce." Steph said sadly. "Are you okay?"

"Still trying to get used to the idea, but yes I think I am. As long as the boys are fine, then I will be too." Marissa responded. Steph and Marissa talked for close to an hour. They talked about Shane a bit more, the kids, and made plans to get together just the two of them in Dallas. Just before they hung up Marissa asked, "Hey can I ask you, what made him tell you? We agreed not to tell anyone in the family yet."

"Well he kinda had no choice, I caught him red-handed with Ashlee Taylor on the back of his motorcycle." Steph said. Shane said Marissa knew so she figured it wasn't a big deal.

"Oh really? Look Steph I gotta run see you in a few days." Marissa said then hung up quickly. Her blood was boiling, the one thing she asked Shane was to keep the thing with this girl on hold for the time being so she didn't look stupid and he couldn't even do that." She glanced at the clock in the kitchen, she knew exactly were Shane was and she had it. Now she wasn't going to be so nice.

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"SHANE MCMAHON!" Marissa voiced boomed in the private gym that Shane trained at.

Shane was in the ring sparing with one of his coaches when he saw his very angry wife storming right towards him. The other men in the room all looked at him with both fear and sympathy in their eyes. They all had wives and girlfriends and knew that look.

"Hey" Shane said waving to his wife trying to lighten the mood.

"Outside, now!" she said heading towards to door that she knew lead to the back of the building. Shane felt for his safety, not to argue and just followed quietly. Once they reached the small patio outside she whipped around and Shane swore he had never seen her so mad in his whole life. "WHAT WAS THE ONE THING I ASKED FROM YOU?!" she was screaming so loud she was shaking.

"Would you calm down and please clue me in on what's going on?" Shane said trying to place his arms on her shoulders to still her but as soon as he tried to touch her, Marissa lost it even more.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" She screamed at him even louder than before. "You saw her again didn't you?"

"Who?!" Shane yelled back now getting very frustrated.

"You know who, that wrestler chick! The one that was texting you. Shane, you promised to put whatever that is on hold."

Shane made a mental note to kill his sister later for opening her big fat mouth then turned his attention back to his wife, "It was nothing okay, I took her for a quick ride on the bike, completely innocent." Shane felt bending the truth on this one would be for the best.

"YOU PROMISED!" Marissa yelled. "How would you feel if you're sons found out, huh? Look, we are done, its fine. In a few months, you won't have to answer to me at all but you can't hurt these boys. If I remember correctly, you know exactly how it feels to watch your father mess around on your mother!" She barked at him.

Shane was floored by what she was saying but she was right, for a majority of his childhood he watched his mother heartbroken over his father's actions. And although very different, he would never forgive himself if his boys thought the same of him. "You're right, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. You have my word, until the divorce is official, I will have no contact with her."

"Shane I don't want to make things ugly. I want a nice clean break up but I swear ,you make me look like a fool, I will make this a battle . Please don't make me do that." Marissa said and turned on her heels to leave, while Shane stood there in disbelief.

One short chapter to keep it going. Up next Wrestlemania week. How is Ashlee going to feel when Shane tells her he can't have any contact with her for a little while. Also planning an Ashlee/Marissa run in! Stay tune~


	9. Doubts

It was official ,the WWE had invaded Dallas. Ashlee had just checked into her hotel and had strict orders to get over to the stadium for her itinerary for the week. She had press, photo shoots, autograph signings, appearances at schools, and the WWE Hall of Fame on Saturday night. It was easy to say that for the next several days she was going to be super busy. It was a good thing too because it would hopefully keep her mind off of not hearing from Shane at all. She was very confused because after they left each other Monday night at the arena he completely went MIA. Shane didn't seem like the kind of guy to fool around with someone and then dip out but unfortunately that's what was happening. He was usually the one to text her first and for the time being that's how it was going to stay. She knew eventually she was going to run into him this week and hopefully get some answers.

Shane landed in Dallas a little after Ashlee. His schedule wasn't as jammed packed as hers. He didn't have any appearances that he had to make. His only concern was getting together with the Undertaker and putting their heads together to make this match the best possible. He had been in a sour mood the past couple days, so many emotions were going through his body. He was feeling nervous, stressed, excited, but most of all guilt. Guilt to Marissa for breaking his promise but also guilt to Ashlee because he knew she must be wondering why he feel off the face of the earth. He still couldn't stop thinking about her but knew that communication had to be cut off. But he just felt bad for how he had done it. He just hoped after everything was all said and done she would understand. For the time being he decided to just keep his head down and do the job he was expected to do. Vince would be expecting him soon at the stadium to start mapping out the match. With it being the match that everyone was excited to see, it would be getting extra attention and it had to be flawless. No pressure , right?!

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Days were passing and Ashlee still hadn't seen Shane at all. She saw every other McMahon, even Linda, whose appearances were pretty rare these days. She arrived at the stadium a little early to go over her match with the other girls. "Hey girl!" Nikki greeted her in the back.

"Hey! What you up to?" Ash asked trying to put on a smiling face even though smiling was the last thing she felt like doing.

"They have everything set up out there. The ring, lighting, staging, everything. Come on let's take a peak!" Nikki said grabbing Ashlee by the arm and leading her out to the ring. Both girls came from underneath the stage and were floored by everything. It was the largest stage either of them had ever seen and it was just so glamorous.

" This is insane!" Ashlee said with her first real smile in days. "Look how huge everything is."

" See all those seats out there?" Nikki pointed out. "You are gonna be performing in front of all of them, I am so jealous." Nikki said sadly. With her neck injury being so up in the air lately, WWE didn't want to risk Nikki's health so she unfortunately didn't have a match this year. She understood but it still bummed her out not being apart of it all.

"Hey…" Ashlee said pulling her friend in for a hug, "Mania gets bigger and bigger every year, so when you perform next year think of where it will be then!"

"Guess so." Nikki said with a sad smile hoping that her neck would hold out another year. She hadn't told the girls yet how bad it was looking for her.

Both girls were pulled from their thoughts by the sound of three shrieking little boys. As they walked closer they saw three brown haired boys running all around the ring and up the ramp to the stage, full of energy. "Hey hey! Guys, slow down! Be careful, come on!" Ashlee heard a very familiar voice say. She turned around and saw Shane coming from behind the ring trying to control his three overly excited sons. He was so busy yelling at them he didn't even notice Ashlee or Nikki watching.

"Dad! Can we get in?!" Kenyon asked jumping up in down in excitement.

Shane thought for a second, "Shoes off all of you, no way you are getting this mat dirty. Your Pop will have my head." He said as he slipped off his own helping each one climb on one by one. Shane climbed in after them and started throwing them around causing them all to scream in laughter.

"Oh my gosh…" Nikki said smiling, "Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen?!"

Ashlee nodded in agreement but in a way she felt she shouldn't be here, this was a family moment however it was just so cute seeing him interact with his boys she couldn't turn away.

"Now this is what I like to see, the next generation!" A powerful voice said causing everyone to look up. The voice belonged to the boss himself, Vince McMahon.

"Pop!" all three boys yelled in unison getting out of the ring and tackling their grandfather.

"Easy!" Shane said laughing, "He's not as young as he used to be!"

The older McMahon obviously was not amused and shot his son a pretty nasty look that Shane found even more amusing and flashed his dad a grin.

Everyone watched as Vince climbed into the ring and watched the three boys continue to beat up their father. He was roaring with laughter thinking how so long ago it was Shane as the little boy doing the exact same thing.

Ashlee looked over and noticed a brunette women taking pictures of all the McMahon men, once the she turned around Ashlee recognized her immediately. It was Marissa McMahon. She was smiling watching her sons having so much fun. Ashlee's heart completely dropped, yeah she definitely shouldn't be here right now. " Alright, everyone look over here!" Marissa said pointing her phone to take a picture of Shane and his dad with the three boys squeezing in.

"I've been waiting for this for so long." Linda said with happy tears in her eyes. Her family was finally back together.

Shane smiled at his mom then glanced over noticing two women standing not too far away. He smiled quickly when he noticed it was Ashlee. He mouthed 'hi' to her but was disappointed when she turned on her heels not looking happy. He knew that he hadn't talked to her for a few days and it wasn't right considering what happened between the two of them Monday night but at the moment his hands were tied.

 **Òòoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Ashlee got through all of her obligations this week and was doing her best to put Shane McMahon out of her head and enjoy Wrestlemania week. It was Saturday night and she was getting ready for the Hall of Fame ceremony. Originally she had picked out a very beautiful black gown. It was a very classy dress and she had been so excited when she had bought it over a month about but when did had tried it on the night before, it just wasn't wowing her anymore. This whole Shane situation had her feeling kinda of down on herself and pretty insecure so with the free hour she had this morning she found something a little edgier.

A knock came at the door and she knew it was Nattie coming to pick her up. Her husband ,TJ, wasn't coming this year so they agreed to be each other's dates. She opened the door and Nattie's mouth dropped, "Oh my God! Ash that dress!" she said stunned. It was a red lacy floor length gown with absolutely no back.

"You like?" Ashlee said smiling

"You look incredible. Careful you don't give all the old timers heart attacks." Nattie responded laughing.

Ashlee rolled her eyes continuing to laugh, "Come on you, let's go!"

The ceremony was as spectacular as always and the girls were having a great time. About half way through Ashlee looked up to the screen and noticed the cameras focus in on Shane and Marissa. She had her hand on his chest and they were smiling at one another. The crowd went crazy when they saw Shane and he made sure to wave and thank the crowd. Ashlee's stomach dropped and she felt like she was going to be sick. They looked so happy but not even a week ago he was kissing her and doing things to her body that she still couldn't get out of her head.

"Ash, you okay?" Sasha said nothing her friend didn't look so great.

"Huh?"Ashlee said shaking the fog from her head, "Yeah, I'm just gonna hit the restroom before the shows starts." She said getting up heading to the nearest bathroom.

She managed to calm herself down in the stall and decided that no man was worth getting this worked up over and she had no choice but you forget about any potential future with Shane McMahon. Making her way over to the sink, she saw the door swing open and a women walk in. Lost in her own thoughts, she didn't pay any mind to the person until she heard a voice speak. "You must be Ashlee, I was wondering when I would run into you."

Ashlee nearly fainted when she glanced in the mirror to see Marissa McMahon behind her.

 **Hey guys sorry it has been so long. Got wrapped up in my other story and kind of sidetracked to that one for a bit. Gotta do better at juggling both when I can!**

 **I promised a meeting with these two. What do you think is going to happen? Leave me your thoughts!**


	10. The Aftermath

Ashlee turned white as a ghost as she stared in the mirror at the woman behind her. She didn't know Shane's wife knew about her and honestly had no idea what she should be saying right now. "Mrs. McMahon right?" Ashlee said

"Ha!" Marissa let out a sarcastic laugh, "Yeah I guess that's me. Not for much longer, but I guess you already know that." Marissa took a deep breath to compose herself. She wasn't about to try and make a scene, she knew how important this weekend was to Shane and his family. "How old are you?"

"I'm sorry?" Ashlee asked, confused by the older woman's question.

"You heard me, how old are you?" Marissa asked again.

"I'm 26." Ashlee answered.

"26?! You do understand that makes you 20 years younger than Shane, correct." Marissa said. She knew this girl was young but she would have never thought her husband would go for a girl in their 20s.

"Look, I don't think what you think is going on but Shane and I are just friends. Not even friends really, more like co-workers. He's helped me in the ring a couple times. That's it." Ashlee said.

"I'm not stupid. I know my husband has feelings for you. And I know you know about the divorce, at least I hope you know about the divorce, otherwise that makes you a homewrecker." Marissa barked at the younger woman.

"Excuse me, but you don't know me at all!" Ashlee said raising her voice.

"Calm down." Marissa said putting her hand up in defense, "This home was long wrecked before you came along. This was decided long ago."

"What is it you want from me?" Ashlee asked desperate to just get out of this bathroom.

"What Shane does after we divorce is Shane's business but before those papers are signed, he is still legally my husband and I am just thinking of my children's feelings. I don't want them hating their father." Marissa said trying to keep her emotions at bay but just the thought of telling her sons was breaking her heart.

"Look, I don't want to be involved in any of this, okay. You and Shane need to work out your family stuff, this has nothing to do with me." Ashlee explained.

"Which is why I wanted to talk to you. It is clear my husband has feelings for you and even though I have asked him to stop any contact with you for the time being, he is incapable of listening. So that leaves you. If you are any sort of a good woman, you will respect my wishes and leave my husband alone right now. He needs to focus on this weekend and his family." Marissa said.

Ashlee was trying to understand this woman. She had her cornered in a bathroom but wasn't being vicious to her. Her behavior wasn't friendly but it also wasn't coming off as mean either. She was just a mother trying her best to protect her children and Ashlee admired that. She was sure this wasn't easy for Marissa to do but nevertheless she was doing it. "I give you my word, Shane will not hear from me."

"Thank you." Marissa responded, "I'll let you get back to your evening." And with that Marissa McMahon was gone leaving Ashlee even more confused than when she came in here.

Marissa got back to her seat next to her husband, "Everything alright?" Shane said looking over, "You were gone awhile."

"There was a line." Marissa answered sweetly smiling at her husband.

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Ashlee unfortunately was obligated to stay for the rest of the show but as soon as she got the opportunity she slipped away heading back to her room. As she laid in bed, she decided that whatever this thing was with Shane McMahon had to be over. After talking to his wife and hearing about his children, these were now real people, not just ideas. Even though she didn't break up this marriage, she still didn't feel right about it. And even if they did end up seeing each other in the future, she would always be looked at as a homewrecker. Now she just had to do her best to ignore him when she did see him.

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Wrestlemania was going fantastic. Ashlee finished her match and even though she didn't win, it was such an amazing experience being in front of that many people on such a beautiful stage. This is why she did what she did, for this exact feeling. She cleaned up and joined everyone else in one of the big conference rooms out back. There were screens set up for people to watch the show and everyone was piled in there to watch Shane v. The Undertaker. It was the match that everyone was talking about. Shane's entrance was first and everyone couldn't help but smile when they saw the three little people come out behind him. Even though she agreed to not have anything to do with this man going forward, she was touched by how adorable he looked with his sons. He smiled down at the three of them and you could just see the love and pride beaming off of him. Ashlee's stomach dropped when he made it to ringside and kissed Marissa before heading into the cage. She knew it was probably just for show but it was still like someone punching her in the gut; she tried to shake the feeling because she had already convinced herself that this man was not for her.

Everyone was on the edge of their seats throughout the whole match and once people saw Shane look up to the top of the cage, everyone knew he was going for it. "Be careful Shane." Ashlee whispered hoping no one could hear. It was so loud in there, she figured no one did. The entire room held their breath as Shane soured through the air and finally crashing down onto the announce table. It didn't take long for Taker to hoist Shane back into the ring and finish him off. Cameras zoomed in on one of his sons and the look of disappointment was devastating to watch.

All Ashlee wanted to do was rush to the trainer room to make sure Shane was alright but of course she couldn't. He was with his family and that was unfortunately no place for Ashlee. "Hey Girly!" Charlotte said putting her arm around Ashlee's neck, shaking her back to reality. "Bunch of us are gonna be heading out after this last match. Celebrate an awesome night, you in?!"

Ashlee thought for a second, she could definitely use a night of fun and craziness. She rarely drank that much anymore but figured if anyone needed it, she did. "Definitely, count me in!"

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Ashlee woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. "Holy shit, what the fuck did I drink last night?" she said underneath the covers. She poked her head out and was immediately blinded by the sun coming through the blinds. All of a sudden Ashlee realized she wasn't alone in bed, "What the fuck?!" she shouted when a man popped out from under the covers next to her.

She recognized him right away, his name was Jason and he played for the Dallas Cowboys. When a bunch of the Superstars went out they ended up meeting a few of the Dallas Cowboys at a club. They were at Wrestlemania and they all partied together last night. It was all coming back to Ashlee now, so desperate to forget about the Shane drama, she drank way too much and started flirting with Jason. She had never had a one night stand in her life; she felt so dirty. "Good morning gorgeous." Jason said smiling. "Last night was fun."

"Oh god!" Ashlee said burying her face in her pillow.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Look, I don't wanna be rude or anything but you gotta go! Last night was one big drunken mistake, I'm sorry." Ashlee said hopping out of bed and grabbed a sheet when she realized she wasn't wearing any clothes.

"Hey, I'm not looking to get married or anything." Jason said in a thick southern accent, "I was just saying last night was fun. Was gonna say you can call me if you're ever in Dallas again."

"I really don't wanna hurt your ego or anything but I don't even remember much of last night. Please just get dressed." Ashlee really didn't mean to be rude but she was desperate to get this guy out of here. She couldn't believe she had been so drunk and stupid last night.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, she tried to ignore it but then the knock came again only a little louder this time. Glancing behind her to make sure Mr. Dallas Cowboy had his clothes on, she cracked open the door.

"Morning! I brought breakfast!" Shane said holding up a couple white paper bags with muffins and bagels in them

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Ashlee said in shock. She knew at this exact moment what a heart attack must feel like.

"Listen, I know that I have off the grid since we saw each other last week and I wanted to explain." Shane said making his way past Ashlee into her room. It was then that he realized that she wasn't alone. He saw a man putting his shoes on in Ashlee's room. He then noticed that Ashlee was only wearing a sheet around her body. Didn't take long to put two and two together.

"Are you joking with this!?" Shane yelled.

"Holy shit! Shane McMahon, awe man big fan! Your match last night was so sick." Jason exclaimed walking up to Shane to shake his hand.

"Uhhh..yeah thanks." Shane said very annoyed that this guy was even trying to have a conversation with him. All Ashlee could do was roll her eyes, this guy may be cute but he was completely dense in the head. She shuddered to think she actually slept with him last night.

"Jason, can you go please, NOW!" Ashlee barked, now not caring that she was being rude.

"Sure. Hey, like I said, call me if you're ever in Dallas again." Jason said with the stench of whiskey coming from his breath. _'_ _Was he still drunk?"_ Ashlee thought to herself.

"I wouldn't wait by the phone." Ashlee said slamming the door behind him. She then turned to Shane who looked beyond angry.

 **Reviews keep me going with new ideas!**


	11. Promises are Meant to be Broken

"For your information no I don't! But when I have this crazy passionate experience with someone and they go MIA all week, yeah I get a little pissed off, Shane! Any girl would!" Ashlee was beyond upset right now but made sure to keep her tears hidden, she was not going to let this man see her cry even for one second. "What are you doing here anyways? You're not even supposed to be talking to me."

Shane looked at her with a very confused look, "What are you…" he started but was cut off quickly.

"Oh, your wife didn't tell you?" she asked.

"My wife?" Shane asked confused on what Marissa was supposed to have told him.

"We had a nice little chat in the bathroom Saturday night!" Ashlee exclaimed seeing in Shane's face that this really was brand new information, "Yeah, thanks for the heads up by the way, it would have been nice to know that she knew about me. Instead I'm sitting at the Hall of Fame watching you and her act all lovey dovey on the screen then get cornered in the bathroom like I've done something wrong. She asked me to make sure you stay away from me. She doesn't think you'd respect her wishes, which looks like she was right cause here you are!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Shane shouted back, "Did I interrupt you fucking the football player?! You're right, where are my manners? I should have called first!"

"For your information, I was in the process of kicking him out. I was drunk last night, probably because I somehow have gotten sucked into this fucked up McMahon family drama! But I got news for you pal, you don't own me. We are not together so even though it was a stupid mistake, I shouldn't be explaining myself to you."

Shane took a few steps forwards, inching closer to Ashlee. "What are you doing?" she said eyes widening as she kept backing up until she was against the wall.

"No, you're right, I don't owe you. But I have touched your body, I have made your body cum. _Multiple times_ Ashlee." Shane said very calmly and softly. "I know I'm in your mind 24hours a day because you are in mine 24 hours a day. So yes, although this is a very fucked up situation, that I do intend on getting out of very soon, I don't share Ashlee. Never have, never will. Now I want you to do me a favor."

"What's that?" Ashlee said feeling her body heat rising with Shane's mouth so close to her.

"I need you to go take a shower and wash off any remints of this asshole because the only man that should be on you is me. Do I make myself clear?" Shane said in a very stern demanding voice.

Ashlee didn't say a word. This man had some sort of power over her that she wasn't understanding and quite frankly, was getting pretty intimidated but turned on by as well. Shane McMahon just screamed power. She did as she was told and quickly hopped in the shower. The hot water felt so good, after all of the adrenaline and alcohol from last night, she didn't feel the aches and pains from her match until just now. The smell of her vanilla lavender soap was heavenly at the moment and she was so happy to be able to cleanse herself of that big drunken mistake. Afterwards she quickly changed into a pair of jeans with a white t-shirt. After having to dress up all weekend, it felt nice to just be in normal clothes even if it would only be for a few hours.

She opened the door to her bedroom surprised to still see Shane sitting on the couch glancing at his phone. "What are you still doing here?" she asked.

He looked up and relived a small but genuine smile, "Much better."

"Shane, I'm serious. You're not supposed to be here. I talked to your wife and promised that I would stop all contact with you until after you guys figure out your shit." She said staying on the other side of the room. Seemed like distance was her only defense against this man.

"I came here to explain why you hadn't heard from me all week. Looks like you already know why but that is why I stopped by." Shane explained.

Ashlee felt herself start to soften a bit. Seemed like Shane's temper was under control now and she had calmed down as well in the shower. "I'm sorry you had to see that this morning. Trust me, that was not how I expected to be waking up this morning. I don't drink often, guess you can see why. My judgement kinda goes out the window. And just for the record, that's the first time something like that has ever happened. Don't want you think I'm a slut."

"I don't think that and you're right, you are free to do whatever you want. There's no commitment between us. I just…." Shane started but paused.

"You just?" Ashlee egged him on to finish his thought.

"I really care about you. You've been on my mind all week and I've hated not talking to you. It was killing me having Monday happen and getting close to you then completely cutting off all communication. I didn't want you to think I was just using you." Shane said.

Ashlee thought in her head how it wouldn't have been the first time a man used her for her body but Shane didn't come off as that type.

"I'm just trying to do what's right for my kids and when Marissa explained how they would feel if they thought their dad was cheating on their mom, it made me really question my actions." He stated.

"Hey." Ashlee sad putting her arms up in defense, "I understand and I never pushed you to do anything. Like I said on the day we went for a walk, I don't want complicated. Your kids and their feelings come first.

"Yes, but you also have feelings too. I can't ignore those either." Shane argued.

"I'm a big girl, Shane. I can take care of myself." She responded. She took a seat by the window and just the way the Texas sunlight was beaming in and hitting her face, Shane couldn't help it. He found her completely irresistible.

He stood up and started inching towards her again, "Yes, you are a big girl but every now and then it's nice for someone else to take care of you." His voice had changed and the way he was walking towards her reminded Ashlee of a tiger in the jungle stalking prey.

"Shaaannne." She said in a wary voice. "What are you doing?"

"Taking care of you right now." He said grabbing her hands and pulling her to her feet.

"Shane no!" Ashlee protested, "We promised."

"Do you see my wife here right now?" he asked.

"No" Ashlee answered.

"Do you see my children?" he asked

"No" she answered again.

"Then I really don't care at the moment." He whispered as he brought his lips closer and closer to hers until they connected. Ashlee moaned into his kiss and even though she made a promise, right now she really didn't care either. Shane pushed her down so she was lying flat on the hotel room carpet. Climbing on top of her, he was now straddling her. As much as he wanted to fuck her right here, Shane McMahon was not one for sloppy seconds so again, they would have to wait but he was going to remind her as to why she was so attracted to him.

He grabbed her right outside of her jeans, rubbing hard against the denim so she could feel his touch, "Mine." He whispered against her ear.

"Yours." She moaned being effected greatly by his touch, even on the outside of her pants.

Enjoying the fact that she was wearing a low-cut shirt, he reached his hand down and started pinching her nipples. They hardened instantly and pretty soon Shane had them in his mouth teasing them with his tongue. Still on top of her, as he continued attacking her tits, he made sure to hump her hard so she could feel exactly what she was missing in his pants.

"I want it." She said in almost a whine, that Shane found incredibly adorable.

"You do, do you?" he asked between licks on her breasts.

"Please baby." She begged.

Shane let out an uneasy sigh, he was getting way too turned on at the moment. Ashlee reached her hand down and started stroking Shane over his pants.

"So big and hard." She said as she licked her lips.

Shane let out a very low and very sexy growl and started to unzip his pants to give Ashlee exactly what she was asking for. Ashlee's eyes grew wide as she saw Shane so hard and ready for her. There was no denying Shane's masculinity and Ashlee was insanely turned on. Right when she was about to put her mouth around him, they were interrupted by a ringing phone.

Shane groaned but knew he had to answer it; he knew who it was. Giving Ashlee an apologetic look he kissed her forehead before getting up to retrieve his phone. He rolled his eyes when he saw it was exactly who he suspected. Since coming to Dallas, Marissa had been keeping tabs on him everywhere he went. It was starting to get awfully annoying.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Where are you? The boys wanted to get breakfast." Marissa said

"I went to grab some coffee and ran into some people." Shane said thinking quickly.

"What people?" Marissa asked very suspiciously.

"Just people, okay! Tell the boys I'll be back in a few and I'll take them to breakfast." Shane answered.

"Did you get me a coffee." Marissa asked before hanging up.

"No." He answered.

"Why not? She asked. "You always get me one."

"Yeah, well there's a lot of things I used to do. Tell the boys to be ready." Shane said sarcastically and hung up quickly.

He looked at Ashlee who was not sitting on the couch peaking into the bags that Shane had brought with him. "You know she didn't buy a word of that, right?" she said with a slight laugh.

"Probably not." Shane said sighing, "I'm sorry I gotta run. Take the boys to breakfast."

"These for me?" she said picking a muffin she liked out of the bag.

"All yours." He said as he came over to give her one finally kiss on the lips. "I'll see you at the show tonight." He quickly made sure his pants were re-buttoned, opened the door a crank to make sure no one was walking by and slipped out quickly to pick up his sons.

 **Hey Everyone, kinda all over the place with this story. Need to really figure out which way to have them go. Thoughts would be helpful!**


	12. Morning Workout

"When you meeting with your attorney?" Vince asked taking a sip of his coffee not looking up from the morning paper.

"Figured we would tell the boys first then sort out all the legal stuff." Shane answered as he glanced over his Ipad looking through his email. Most were congratulatory ones from friends and work colleagues that saw his match last night. Others were work related from his other businesses that he needed to get sorted out before morning's end. He was sitting with Vince in his hotel suite for breakfast, just the two of them which hadn't happened in years. He had already dropped off Marissa and the boys at the airport for their early flight back to New York. The boys had begged to stay for Raw tonight in Dallas but with them already missing a couple days of school, Shane and Marissa made the choice to have them back to school Tuesday morning. There would be plenty of other opportunities for them to come to shows, especially with summer vacation only a couple months away.

"You think she's gonna take it all?" Vince asked now dropping his newspaper, folding his hands, making sure his son was paying attention.

"As in…all of what exactly?" Shane asked.

"Your sneaker collection." Vince answered sarcastically rolling his eyes, "Money, Shane! Think she will take all your money?"

Shane answered with a shake of his head, "It won't be like that. This is a mutual decision. As long as the boys are taken care of, that's all that matters."

Vince let out a deep sigh, "Money makes women act crazy. Trust me, when you're sitting down going over all your combined assets, I guarantee she will get greedy. You figure out alimony yet?"

Shane thought for a second, its not like what his father was saying didn't make sense but Marissa wasn't like that. Their divorce was something they both decided plus it wasn't like she stayed home and didn't do anything all day. She had her own money; her production company had soared over the past couple years. She was more than all set. "It will be fine, Dad."

"Shane, there are a lot of things to consider; like who are the boys going to live with, spend holidays with, child support, your vacation home, cars, bank accounts, stocks…." Vince rambled off. Even though Shane had just recently come back to WWE and wasn't an executive anymore, he was still a McMahon and with that came certain things. Shane had more than enough WWE stock in his name. Millions of dollars worth actually. He had sold some to start up a couple of his own companies but Vince knew his son wasn't stupid and there was plenty left. Now the only question was, who was going to get it. Shane didn't say anything because the last thing he wanted was an argument with his dad this early in the morning when his ears were still ringing from WrestleMania, however Vince McMahon never said anything without a reason and Shane knew he mentioned the concern over the stock for a particular reason.

He now decided this was a good time to look busy with work and continued to ignore his father. Work, however was the last thing on his mind. Last night was a dream come true and couldn't have gone any better, well maybe if he had won, but still it was an amazing night. Having his kids come out with him was a surprise to everyone, especially them and they were so excited about it. There was no greater gift in the world that Shane could buy them that would ever compare. He and Mark had put on a match that he couldn't have been prouder of. After the match, the decision was made that with Shane being so popular right now, there was no way he could leave right now so he was written to run tonight's Raw and the next few weeks after that until creative could put their heads together and come up with a good storyline for Shane and Stephanie. This meant more traveling for Shane every week but quite frankly with an upcoming divorce, he felt this may be the best time to do it.

Thinking of the divorce made his mind drift to Ashlee. Her match was killer last night too with the other Divas. She looked great out there and unlike him actually came up with a victory last night. He wasn't exactly sure what the future had in store for them or how he was going to go about transitioning her into his life but he hoped to get all the details worked out sooner rather than later.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

After tuning Vince out for another hour or so, Shane had finally had enough and decided the best way to work out all the bangs and bruises from last night was to jog it off. Changing real quick into a pair of shorts and t shirt, he found the small hotel gym. He wasn't on the treadmill long before he heard a familiar voice come from behind him. "Guy jumps off a cell and next morning he's running like it's no big deal, you're not human McMahon." Ashlee laughed as she placed her water bottle and phone down on a nearby bench.

Shane laughed at the comment, "I've done worse."

"Oh, I know." Ashlee smiled back. "Trust me, we've all seen your videos lately about how wonderful you are." She said with a wink as she rolled out a mat so she could stretch out.

Shane trying to concentrate on running but was having a hard time now that Ashlee was bending and stretching right in front of him. She was wearing tight spandex work out pants that wasn't leaving much to the imagination and when she bent over, you could tell how firm and round her ass was underneath them. Her breasts were pushed up in her workout top and as she bent forward to stretch out her back, Shane couldn't help but glance. Little more than 24 hours ago, he had those in his mouth and they were perfect.

"Something of interest to you?" Ashlee asked coyly as she finished her stretches.

"Who me?" Shane asked innocently, "Nope, just trying to see the morning news." He said as he kept jogging and pointed to the TV set behind her on the wall.

Ashlee smiled but didn't say anything, just slipped in her headphones and picked a treadmill a few away from Shane. The gym was completely empty and she could have easily chosen the one next to him but purposely decided against it. As the both jogged, they kept stealing looks at one another but remained focused on their workouts. Shane, being Shane, decided to show off a little bit as he sped up his treadmill to a pretty fast speed. He was running fast to keep up but continued increasing the speed. Ashlee noticed and being competitive decided to play along. She locked eyes with Shane and smiled a playfully grin as she made hers go faster too. Both were curious to see which one would crack first.

"You know…" Ashlee said out of breath but still running, "Someone your age, shouldn't overexert themselves. Can't be good for your heart." She teased.

Shane let out a chuckle, "I wouldn't worry about my physical abilities. I am quite able to keep up in all things that require….stamina." He looked over and smiled.

"I'll be the judge of that one McMahon." She responded but was having trouble catching her breath but refused to quit.

Shane could tell she could only run so fast for so long and honestly, he was getting tired too, "You give?" he asked looking over to her direction again.

At this point both were pouring sweat, "You?" she asked barely able to get the word out of her mouth.

"If you do." He said feeling the aching in his legs.

Ashlee hated to be the first to give in but honestly she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep this up without embarrassing herself. "Yeah, I give!" she exclaimed as she pushed the button repeatedly to slow down her machine.

Once she had slowed to a walking pace, Shane slowed his machine down until it came to a stop. He jumped off beelining it straight to his awaiting water bottle. The cold water tasted amazing at that moment and he dabbed his face with a towel as he continued to drink. By this time Ashlee had taken a seat on the bench; her calves were burning and she actually felt a little lightheaded. One thing was for sure, keeping up with Shane McMahon was no easy task. "Your match was amazing." She said once she was able to form sentences again.

"Thanks." He said smiling, taking a seat down next to her.

"Your kids looked adorable out there. Best entrance I've ever seen. Everyone was talking about it." She said.

"Yeah?" he asked. "They did look good out there, didn't they?" he said beaming with pride.

"They still sleeping?" Ashlee asked trying to judge how much time they had before he had to whisk off again.

"They are actually currently sitting on a plane, back to New York." He answered taking another sip from his water.

"They didn't stay for tonight?" she asked surprised.

Shane shook his head, "Didn't want them missing too much school."

"So, you're all alone then?" Ashlee said with a hint of deviousness in her voice.

"Completely alone." Shane said leaning in closer to Ashlee very slowly.

As he inched closer and closer to her, Ashlee's heart started beating fast. She had learned quickly that being around Shane McMahon was like being high on some kind of drug. Taking one quick glance around to make sure no one was watching he finally leaned in placing his lips onto hers. He automatically slipped his tongue into her mouth and continued to explore her mouth. It took a minute for them to come to their senses and remember where they were. As much as they didn't want to, they pulled apart looking into each other eyes out of breath. Shane realized it was best to leave now before anything further happened. He leaned in very quickly to place one more peck on her lips and whispered what he had yesterday, "Soon." And before Ashlee could process what was going on, he slipped out the door and was gone leaving her very confused, very frustrated, and very alone in the hotel gym.

Getting her second wind, she lifted some weights to try and clear her head. Was he playing games with her? Or was he just as confused on how to act in this situation as she was? As she walked off the elevator and down the hall to her room, she felt her phone vibrate. She pulled it out and saw the incoming text:

 **Shane: Thanks for the morning workout, next time I have something different in mind that will make us sweat. ;-)**

 **PS: You looked beautiful as always.**

All Ashlee could do was smile and shake her head in disbelief at how she got wrapped into this mess. As she walked back into her room, her phone buzzed again with another text, this one didn't make her smile:

 **Mom: Have no money for the rent. Need cash.**

Ashlee sighed as she threw her phone down on the bed in frustration; and there was reality knocking at the door again.


	13. No Turning Back Now

It had been a little over a month since WrestleMania and things were starting to finally quiet down for Ashlee and the rest of the Divas, who were now just being called Superstars like the men. They were all absolutely thrilled about it since it had been years since any of the women wrestlers were taken seriously. Shane was also sticking around so it was nice that she got to see him at least once a week. They hadn't had any type of physical contact since the morning in the gym and that had been weeks ago. As much as it sucked she was doing her best to keep her word to his wife, even though they both had struggled with it thus far.

She was in New York for a couple days doing press for the next upcoming pay per view and a few other appearances. With a few hours to kill, she decided to skip a lunch invitation from Sasha and Becky and just go back to the hotel and hopefully get a nap in. The redeye flight in last night was still kicking her ass. Just as she plopped down on the bed her phone rang for the third time this hour. Groaning in frustration, she knew exactly who it was and decided she could ignore another call.

"Hi Mom." She answered already sounding annoyed.

"Babygirl, I'm a little short on cash this week, can you put some money in my account." Her mom, Joanne, said very sweetly.

"Mom, I told you I wasn't doing that anymore. If you don't have any spending cash left, that's not my fault." Ashlee said feeling her anger start to rise. No conversation with her mom had been normal since the death of her dad years ago.

When Ashlee was 16, her dad tragically passed away in a car accident. The second he left the earth, she swore her mom did too. It was at such a young age that Ashlee had to come to terms with that fact that she lost both her parents that day. Her mother had completely gone off the deep end and abandoned any responsibilities she had to Ashlee and her younger siblings. Joanne turned to drugs and alcohol completely losing herself. Ashlee eventually got herself emancipated and took control over her younger brother, Liam, and sister, Missy. She never got actual custody of them but their mom was so messed up during that time, she didn't seem to care that none of her kids wanted anything to do with her. By some legal miracle, Ashlee was able to sneak around her mother and gain control of her father's life insurance money and with that and a part time job she had after school, she was able to support herself and two siblings. Joining WWE had made things easier and by the time she hit the road, her siblings were in college and she didn't have to worry as much.

WWE had been her saving grace, it was the first steady paycheck she had ever received and with still sending money to her siblings when they needed it, a contract was much needed. The first big purchase Ashlee made after getting her contract with WWE was a house. After her dad had died and her mom had checked out, it was never certain where Ashlee would be living. She was able to afford a small 1 bedroom apartment that she shared with her siblings but being a kid herself it was hard to keep up with the bills and she was constantly getting eviction warnings and past due utility bills. So the only thing Ashlee wanted was a house to call her own that no one could take away. Once her mom got word of Ashlee's WWE contract, she started showing up again claiming to have nowhere to live. Not having the heart to kick her mom to the curb she let her mom stay with her but it was short lived. On Ashlee's first long European tour with WWE, she came back to strange people in her home with drugs all over the kitchen counter. If word had ever gotten out that there were drugs in Ashlee's house, WWE would be forced to fire her immediately. She had no other option but to have her mother leave. However even though her mother hadn't been much of a mom over the recent years, she still couldn't abandon her so that was when Ashlee took out a month to month lease on an apartment across town from her and made it clear that no drugs were allowed in this apartment. At first she would just transfer money every month into her mom's account to cover the bills but then money started disappearing and rent wasn't being paid so now Ashlee's new thing is paying it herself to know for sure where the money was going.

Taking care of her grown drug struggling mother and still checking in with her brother and sister was enough to exhaust anyone but out of respect and love for her father, she continued to take care of her mother even if she wasn't taken care of herself. No one at WWE knew Ashlee's home life. She kept it very private and even when she was approached to participate in WWE's reality show Total Divas, she politely declined. It was great money but it would mean having cameras follow her around and eventually the truth about her family would get out.

Ashlee completely tuned out her mom as she rambled on about why she was short with cash. She knew whatever her mom was saying on the other end was all lies. "Look Mom I really gotta go. Walking into an appearance in a few minutes. I'll call you later." Ashlee lied out of desperation to get her off the phone. She ended the call and tossed her phone on the night stand pulling a pillow over her face to muffle the scream. Sometimes she couldn't help but consider cutting her mom off altogether but in the end never could carry through.

Few seconds later and her phone buzzed again next to her. Slamming her hands down on the mattress in total annoyance she snatched her phone, this time losing complete patience. "I told you I can't talk right now!"

This time a voice answered that she wasn't expecting, "Oh, I'm sorry didn't mean to bother you." Shane responded completely taken off guard at the way she answered.

"Shane!" Ashlee jumped up in total embarrassment. "I am so sorry, thought you were someone else."

"Evidently." He said with a chuckle. "If this is a bad time, I can call back later."

"No no!" she protested, "I'm just sitting at my hotel, of course I have time for you." She said sweetly trying to smooth over the conversation. They hadn't spoken in a couple days and she was always completely super excited whenever he did call. "How are you?"

"Good, sitting in my office trying to get some work done that I let get backed up." He answered. Truth was his other companies weren't getting his full attention anymore and when he wasn't with WWE or his sons he was trying to focus on work. Few years after he left WWE and started his other businesses he rented a vacant office in downtown Manhattan to get out of the house. With the boys home running around and the constant distraction, his own space was much needed. It wasn't anything special, just an office with an attached conference room. He hadn't even taken time to decorate it much, it was just a place to get his work done.

"You must be pretty backed up, WWE has you at shows every week." Ashlee said figuring he must be under a lot of stress trying to juggle everything.

"Tell me about it. I might have to tell Dad to lay off me for a week or two. Boys are going to start to have baseball games and I wanna make sure I can make them." He responded. "So wanna tell me why you sounded so annoyed when you answered."

"Just family drama, nothing of importance." She answered. There was no way she was telling him about her mother; he would never talk to her again and honestly, she wouldn't blame him.

"What's on the agenda today?" he asked. "Seems like you've been busy lately as well."

"Dinner with a few of the other girls later tonight. We just finished up a signing at the Garden. So I just came back to my room to chill out for a bit." She explained.

"Wait…Madison Square? You're in New York?" He asked sitting forward in his chair.

"Yeah, I'm here for the next two days." She said hiding her amusement of why Shane seemed to care so much.

"You're in New York for two days and didn't care to tell me." He said trying to sound wounded.

"Well, it's not like I could just call you up or stop in. Could get a little awkward." She laughed into the phone.

"Come by my office." Shane blurted out so fast before he even knew what he was saying.

"Excuse me?" Ashlee said very taken aback by the bold request. "Isn't that a little risky?"

"No one's here. It's just me in an empty office. For a few minutes, at least? Please?" he said in a pouty voice that he hoped would persuade her. He suddenly had an urge to see her knowing that she was in the same city as him.

"Shane, I don't know. Probably isn't a good idea." Ashlee said extremely hesitate.

"Please Ashlee, I miss you and I'm thinking you miss me too." Shane said.

"Welll…." She said still trying to make up her mind, "Oh what the hell, text me the address." She said looking through her suitcase for a change of clothes.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Shane sat in his office waiting for Ashlee. As he waited his mind wandered to a conversation him and Marissa had earlier.

 _They were sitting together at the breakfast bar. The boys had already taken off for school and both were sitting finishing their coffees. Shane was looking over the New York Times and Marissa was checking work emails._

 _"_ _When do you wanna tell them?" she asked breaking the silence in the room._

 _Shane placed the paper down glancing up at his wife, "I was leaving that decision up to you." He answered._

 _"_ _Well, you've been so busy traveling, I wasn't sure you had the time." She snapped._

 _This was the part of his wife that annoyed him. One second she was perfectly fine with him and the divorce, next second she was very snappy and impossible to talk to. Maybe his dad was right, maybe this wouldn't be as cut and dry as he had originally thought._ _"_ _Don't start that, you know I always have time for my sons. I just didn't know how soon afterwards we were thinking."_

 _"_ _No point in dragging it out any longer. Let's do it tonight after dinner." She said quickly closing her laptop and walking out of the kitchen._

So it was decided, at the end of the evening he would have to look his sons in the eyes and inform them that their whole world was about to change. He tried to think of what he was going to say, even tried jotting it down on a piece of paper to maybe help him pick the right words but truth was there was no easy way of doing this, he just had to ripe off the band aid and hope they would understand[MW1] .

About a half hour later, there was a small knock at the door. "Come on in." Shane called out. He was delighted to see Ashlee poke her head in and smiled when he saw her beautiful greyish blue eyes looking at him. Immediately getting out from behind his desk he made his way over to her, pulling her in for a hug. He took a second to take in her sweet scent and let out a soft breath, "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes." He whispered against her ear. He pulled back and looked her over. She was wearing a short black skirt with a long sleeve baby pink sweater. Finished off with a pair of black knee high boots, she looked sexy but also sweet at the same time.

Ashlee was taking in the sight of Shane. He just always looked so sexy to her and he didn't even have to try. She knew she shouldn't, she knew it was wrong, but something came over her and she took Shane a bit off guard when she pulled his neck down a bit and placed her lips on his. Shane was most certainly not complaining but he was very surprised, usually he was the one to make the first move, not Ashlee. He deepened the kiss, tasting every bit of her that he could. His strong hands against her cheeks held her in place so she couldn't move. Spinning her around and forcing her to walk backwards, Shane lifted her up gently placing her on the edge of his desk and positioned himself between her legs, never once breaking their kiss.

"You know this isn't what I had in mind, right?" Shane said pulling away for a second with a naughty smile.

Ashlee was desperate for him and quickly shook her head no, "Shut up." She said against his lips demanding him not to stop.

"Two seconds." He said holding one hand up and walking to the door quickly to lock it. No one ever came here but he wasn't taking any chances. Then making his way over to his desk, he reached for his cell phone, shutting it off. "I don't care if the world is ending, no one is interrupting us this time."

Ashlee bit her lip as she jumped off the desk then proceeded to walk behind it where Shane was standing. Her heart was beating so fast, after everything over the past few months; the flirting, the kissing, the fooling around, being cornered by his wife. Were they finally going to go completely all the way with zero interruptions?

She decided to take charge this time and push Shane down causing him to fall back into his chair. He was never had a woman dominate him like this, Ashlee did things to him and made him feel a certain way that he had never experienced before. Once Shane was settled in his chair, Ashlee swung her leg around straddling him, feeling just how hard he was inside his jeans. "Are you sure about this?" she asked shyly. She knew no part of this was right but the force that was pulling them together was just getting too strong to fight anymore.

"Well I definitely pictured this happening in a more romantic way but I don't think I can wait another fucking second." He said reaching his hand behind her neck and pulling her into a deep kiss. That was the green light that Ashlee had been waiting on. She broke the kiss and dropped her hands to start and unbutton Shane's pants. The hard bulge in his jeans made it a little difficult but soon enough she was able to feel all of him in her hand. As she stroked him gently she watched his eyes close and leaning his head back against his chair, Shane let out a very low but very sexy groan. She was turning him on and she knew it. Removing her hand for a second, she quickly licked her palm then proceeded to rub him again. The surprising wetness made Shane's body jolt but she could tell he was more than enjoying himself. Once Shane came down from his high, he got to work on Ashlee's sweater. Peeling it off her body and over her head he admired having her perfect tits directly in front of him. He took a few moments to enjoy them in his mouth making Ashlee moan this time. The way she was rocking back and forth on his lap was making it close to impossible for him to concentrate on anything else. As she whispered his name over and over again, Shane swore he had never been so turned on in is life.

Lifting Ashlee up a bit, Shane slid his hand up her skirt pulling down her panties. Letting them fall to the floor, he took a second to just admire how sexy she was. Having a younger sexy woman on top of him with just a skirt on was something he could have ever imagined until these past few months. Ashlee Taylor had recently invaded every thought of the day.

"Put your fingers inside me." She whimpered out, completely desperate for his touch. This was an invitation that Shane was thrilled to get and suddenly Ashlee was shocked by his actions. Being particularly rough, he lifted her up placing her on his desk then dove two fingers deep inside her. Anytime she had been physical with him, he was more gentle however this was a different Shane. She saw a fire in his eyes that was both sexy but intimidating. He began pumping three fingers inside of her loving the look of want in her eyes. She was moaning awfully loud but there was no one around to hear her.

"You like that?" he said still fucking her with his fingers.

"More!" was all she was able to get out.

"What you want baby?" Shane asked. He knew very well what she wanted but hearing her say it was so much sexier.

"I want you." She said still cuming around his fingers.

"Gotta give me more than that." He licked against her neck, teasing her.

"I want you inside me." She said as she ran her hands down the front of her own body. Guys always loved seeing girls pleasure themselves so she decided to give Shane a little show. Shane was getting even harder watching Ashlee please her tits as she locked eyes with him. He quickly grabbed her left hand away from her and licked her pointer and thumb making sure to make them good and wet, then returned them to their previous spot on her chest.

"Don't let me interrupt." He smiled reached down into his pants removing his cock.

Ashlee was enjoying watching Shane please himself as much as he liked watching her. After a few moments, Shane had enough of the show and needed to feel how it would feel to truly be inside of Ashlee. Rolling his chair back a bit, he pulled down his jeans more, "Sit on my cock baby." He almost demanded.

Usually due to past relationships, Ashlee didn't take kindly to bossy men but there was something different about Shane. She was convinced that he could tell her to do anything and she would honor his every request. Licking her lips, she slid off of the desk and straddled him before lowering her body onto his. It took a second to adjust to having him inside of her but once the adjustment was made, she began riding him slow at first but faster as her body grew more comfortable.

Both were moaning the other's name and kissing between the noise. Being inside of Ashlee was nothing Shane could have possibly imagined and he knew that he had found his new addiction. Sex with this girl could not just be a one time thing. Where they would go from here, he wasn't entirely sure but for the first time there was no guilt, just a pure need for Ashlee Taylor that was only going to be satisfied with sex and lots of it.


	14. Not Enough

Walking into the arena, Ashlee stopped suddenly when she felt her phone vibrating in the back pocket of her jeans. She didn't even have to look to know who it was.

 **Room 214, waiting for you and I'm awfully hungry. Get that gorgeous ass here now!**

The text was finished with a wink face emoji and it was from Shane. It was always from Shane. It had been close to 5 months since he and his wife had officially announced their divorce and started filing papers with the court. Ashlee understood that it would be in poor taste to jump into a relationship right away and he had his kids' feelings to consider so she was being patient, very patient. However this just hooking up in secret game was getting kind of old now and quite frankly was making her feel pretty cheap. It was the same thing every week; Shane would get to the arena and text Ashlee what room he was in so she could sneak over to him. Once she would arrive, door would lock and they would have sex as quietly as possible. Yes, it was the most amazing sex imaginable but the longing to take things to the next level was starting to eat away at her. The feelings she was starting to develop for this man were getting more and more intense with each passing day. She just didn't know if he felt the same way.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Once Ashlee's things were put away in the Women's Locker Room, she made her way to room 214. Looking around a few times to make sure no one was around, she tapped on the door waiting for it to open.

"God I need you." Shane said the second he opened the door, pulling her in and shutting the door behind her. Pulling her into him he began taking her mouth into his and eagerly tasting her. Ashlee as always was taken right under his spell and started to forget how wrong this was starting to feel and gave into the gorgeous man standing in front of her. Shane started kissing down her neck and pulling her shirt over her head exposing a black lacy bra that wasn't leaving much to the imagination. "Look I have a meeting with my dad in about 20 minutes so unfortunately we don't have a lot of time." Shane explained. His dad was still trying to talk him into coming back full time but Shane was hesitant. He was sticking with his on-air character once a week and that was it for now.

Ashlee was a bit disappointed that they would have to rush and it would be a whole week before she would see him again. "Why don't we grab dinner after the show, spend more time together." She said as Shane was working on getting her pants off.

Once Ashlee suggested going out after the show, he suddenly stopped his task at hand and looked up at her, "I thought we talked about this Ash." He said with confusion in his voice. "What if someone sees us, we have to be careful."

Ashlee started sliding her pants back up her body and looked around for her shirt that Shane had tossed somewhere. Shane noticed the sad expression on her face and felt his heart start to break a little. Seeing Ashlee upset was the last thing he wanted. "What's wrong? I thought you said you understood why we can't be public yet."

"Shane…"Ashlee sighed sitting down on the couch, "I do understand but its been months. I guess I'm just getting a little tired of being your hidden secret. Feels like your ashamed of me."

"That's what you think?!" Shane exclaimed, "You think I'm ashamed of you? Babe, that is the last thing I am. I mean, come on look at you. You're gorgeous, how could I ever be ashamed of you." He said making his way over to the couch and sitting next to her.

"How else am I supposed to feel. All we ever do is meet in private and have sex. If you pass me in the hallways you don't even acknowledge me. Can't you see how that makes me feel?" Ashlee was trying her hardest to keep the tears in, the last thing she wanted was for this man to see her cry over him. She had made that mistake in the past, men seeing her weak; she wasn't doing it again.

"Once my divorce is final…" Shane started but was cut off immediately

"That's all I ever hear; once Wrestlemania is over, once we announce we are splitting up, once a couple months have passed. All you ever do is give me excuse after excuse on why we can't be together. When do I become important to you?!" Ashlee had enough, standing up she made her way for the door.

"Where are you going?" Shane asked jumping up trying to stop her from leaving.

"Gonna have to get your rocks off on your own. Suddenly I'm not in the mood anymore." She said coldly and slammed the door behind her.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Shane sat next to his dad at the gorilla position helping run the show. Even though he made it clear to his dad that he would be an on air character only and not take on any behind the scene jobs, it seemed to everyone that Shane was slowly learning more and more responsibilities. Even though he was only appearing on Smackdown as the on screen commissioner, him coming to Raw shows every so often was certainly making people wonder what exactly Shane was up to. Tonight though was Smackdown Live and Shane had already finished his part for the show so now he was sitting with his dad calling the rest of the show.

Next match was a Women's match between Carmella and Ashlee. Both women were entering gorilla talking through a couple things for the match. Carmella's music hit first and she that just left Ashlee who was stretching out her calf muscles waiting for her entrance to be called. She felt eyes on her and knew exactly who they belonged to. Her and Shane hadn't spoken since their argument earlier.

Her music started and walking passed the table where Shane and Vince were sitting, she felt a hand lightly brush up against her own, "Good luck beautiful." He whispered hoping that she heard him over the loudness of the crowd on the other side of the curtain.

Ashlee did hear him and even though it was a small gesture, it was the most interaction the two shared in front of people. As she got into character and made her way down the ring she felt her body go hot with the longing for Shane. She hated that just a single touch from him affected her so much.

Even though the victory went to Carmella, it was still a great match that Ashlee was very pleased with. She made her way to the locker room to grab a quick shower so she could get to her hotel and crash for the night. She checked her phone first to see if she had any messages, she had a few from friends back home congratulating her on a great match and her mom asking her to call her when she had a minute. This made Ashlee mentally roll her eyes; she was definitely not in the mood for a phone conversation with that women right now. Ashlee felt sadness come over her when she didn't have any messages from the one person she was hoping for. "Everything okay girl?" Alicia Fox asked noticing her friend looking bummed as she stared at her phone.

"Huh?" Ashlee asked being snapped back to reality, "Oh yeah, just spacing out I guess." She answered putting on her best attempt at a fake smile.

"Bunch of us are getting together for a late dinner, you in?" Foxy asked.

"Thanks for the invite but I think I'm gonna just relax at the hotel tonight. Early flight home. Have fun though!" Ashlee responded as she headed for the showers.

Foxy wasn't buying it, she considered Ashlee a good friend and knew when something was bothering her, "Okay, well text me if you change your mind." She called after her.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Ashlee proceeded off the hotel elevator as it dinged on her floor, looking at the numbers on the doors she navigated the hallway trying to find her room. Rounding a corner she noticed someone sitting on the floor in front of a door. As she got closer, she realized it was her door and that she knew the person. "Shane?" she spoke very shocked to see him here, "What are you doing?"

Shane who had been fiddling with his phone placed it back into his jacket pocket and got to his feet. "I wanted to talk to you, didn't like how we ended things earlier." He answered.

"OK?" she said still very confused on how he even knew what room was hers but didn't even bothering asking, he was Shane McMahon, he had ways of finding stuff out. "But kind of risky hanging out in front of my room, what if someone was to see you." She added pretty sarcastically.

Shane sighed in defeat, "Look, I'm trying here. Can I come in?"

"You're just here because you didn't get what you want earlier." She snapped still refusing to open the door to her room.

"Is that all you think I want from you? Sex?" he exclaimed.

"Its kind of all we do. Aside from anything having to do with sex, you don't know anything about me!" she said realizing maybe she was getting a bit loud for this hour of night.

"That's not true!" Shane blurted out.

"Oh really? Tell me then, what's my last name? My real last name!" Ashlee asked knowing there was no way Shane actually knew it. WWE changed her real last name, Mahoney, to Taylor for her character.

Shane went to open his mouth to answer but then closed it again since he had nothing to say. He had assumed it was Taylor but with her question he now knew he didn't know what it was.

"Exactly what I thought." She said with anger in her voice, "You have no clue. Beside knowing how to get me to take my clothes off, I'm a total stranger to you."

"Alright so I don't know details like that, I can learn. I know that I like you, I know that I enjoy spending time with you. Isn't that enough?" Shane said running his fingered through his hair in frustration.

Ashlee shook her head in disbelief, he really wasn't getting what she was saying, "Goodnight Shane." With that she turned on her heels opening the door and quickly closing it, leaving Shane in the hallway alone.


	15. Giving Chances

Ashlee quickly downed her glass of wine before quickly rinsing off the glass and putting it in the dishwasher. Her mom had just arrived at the house for dinner and because of her issues with drinking and drugs, Ashlee always made it a point to never drink in front of her mom even though nine out of ten times her mom showed up bombed anyways. After the intense traveling schedule and the spat with Shane at the hotel a few nights ago, she needed something to take the edge off a bit. Spending time with her mom was stressful enough.

Luckily for Ashlee and her sanity, her mom wasn't too bad tonight. They were just finishing up eating when the interrogation began about Ashlee's younger siblings. "You know I haven't spoken to your brother or sister in months." Joanne said pretty nastily. Missy and Liam, the twins, weren't like Ashlee when it came to their mother. They didn't give her the benefit of the doubt like she did and kept their distance. All they remember after their dad died was being abandoned by their own mother and having their entire world flipped upside down.

Ashlee didn't feel like an argument so just shrugged her shoulders. All and all it had been an okay evening; she wanted to keep it that way. Surprisingly her mom hadn't asked for any money yet, although she was sure that was coming soon. "So babygirl, tell me about work. How's it going?" Joanne asked her daughter. She watched Ashlee on TV but had never seen her perform live. Ashlee never invited her too; she knew her eldest daughter was embarrassed of her. Joanne Mahoney deep down did not blame her daughter; she knew ever since her husband died she was a different person. She hated herself for what she put her children through, especially Ashlee. However everytime she tried to get clean, it just didn't work out. The longest she was sober for was a couple weeks at a time but she never manages to last longer than that.

"Works going good Mom, I'm just tired. A lot of traveling the past few months." Ashlee answered. This was actually the first time she had been home in over 3 weeks.

"You work too much baby." Joanne said to her daughter, "When are you going to settle down and meet someone?"

"Mom, please!" Ashlee started, already feeling herself getting annoyed. Her mom constantly harassed her about working too much but never complained when Ashlee was paying her bills. "I love my job and I'm lucky to have it. Don't start on me; last thing I need is a man in my life." She was still ticked off about how her and Shane left things and since he hadn't even tried to call or text her; she was almost positive whatever they had was over.

"I'm just saying, wouldn't it be nice to have someone? You're a beautiful girl, I don't know why you don't put yourself out there." Joanne added. She was going to continue the subject but was interrupted by the doorbell. She glanced over at her daughter who had a rather confused look on her face. "Where you expecting someone?"

Ashlee shook her head no as she made her way to the front door. Taking a look through the peak hole before opening it, she was convinced she must have been seeing things because standing on the outside of the door was Shane McMahon. She watched as he took a small step backwards as she opened the door. "What are you doing here?" she asked as he greeted her with a warm smile.

"Hello to you too." He chuckled nervously. He still wasn't sure if this was a good idea but after giving her space for a few days, he was determined to try and make things right. He hadn't realized his actions were making Ashlee feel insecure. Truth was he was absolutely crazy about her but wasn't sure how his kids would take a new woman in his life. The fact of the matter was that from the moment he and Marissa decided on a divorce, the last thing that crossed his mind was dating. That is until he laid eyes on Ashlee.

"Sorry…I just am surprised…how do you even know where I live?" Ashlee stumbled over her words being completely taken off guard.

Shane smiled, "Friend in HR owed me a favor. Had him look up your address at the office."

Ashlee stared wide-eyed at Shane who was still standing on her front porch, "Well if that isn't abuse of power…"she said with a tickle to her voice but was quickly interrupted by a voice from back inside the house.

"Ashlee Jolie, where are your manners?" her mother called out trying to obviously make a point by using her middle name. "Aren't you going to invite your friend in?" Ashlee mentally rolled her eyes and stepped aside for Shane to enter the house. "Hi, I'm Joanne, Ashlee's mom. And I'm sorry you are?" Joanne said now noticing how gorgeous this mystery man was.

"Very nice to meet you." Shane answered sticking out his hand to shake hers, "I'm Shane, good friend of your daughter's." he glanced over at Ashlee giving her a cute smile and a subtle wink.

Just the tone to Shane's voice told Joanne this was definitely more than just a friend of her daughter's. "You are very handsome Shane. He is very handsome Ash." Joanne said turning to her daughter. Ashlee chose to ignore her mother's comment and turned her attention to her newest guest.

"You still haven't answered my first question, what are you doing here, Shane?" Ashlee asked crossing her arms and leaning against her staircase banister.

"Who cares why he's here? Gorgeous man shows up on your doorstep, you don't ask questions babygirl." Joanne interrupted.

"Mom! Please…"Ashlee said not meaning to raise her voice, she took a deep breath before beginning again, "Can you give us a minute…please?" Joanne finally getting the hint, smiled at Shane and made her way back to the kitchen, giving the two some privacy. Once she was gone, Ashlee turned back to Shane, "Well?" she asked again.

Shane let out an enormous sigh, she was definitely not going to make this easy for him. "I wanted to talk to you." He answered.

"Something wrong with your phone?" She snapped sarcastically.

"Wasn't sure if you would answer, plus I felt it would make more of a statement if I showed up in person." He tried to explain.

"Statement?" she asked cocking her head to the side in a confused way, "And what kind of statement would that be?"

"You know this would be a lot easier if you weren't acting so hostile with me." Shane said starting to lose his patience. He understood she was upset and maybe had a right to be but he did travel an awfully long way to see her; that had to count for something.

"Sorry." Ashlee apologized, "Guess you just surprised me. What are you doing here?" she asked again but this time much softer.

Shane took a second to collect his thoughts, he had thought long and hard about what he was going to say and didn't want to screw it up, "Ashlee, I know I promised you non-complicated and this has been anything but…I'm sorry. Maybe I haven't been acting like I should be, I know you want more and you deserve more. The thing is, I'm just worried about my boys. The divorce hasn't been easy on them." Shane tried to explain thinking about the change in his kids over the past months since he moved out. He still saw his boys close to everyday but he knew it broke their hearts not having their parents in the same house anymore.

"Shane I understand completely and I'm not asking to meet them. I guess I was under the impression we were heading somewhere different." Ashlee said with a sadness to her voice that Shane picked up on right away. She was starting to develop real feelings for this man and being a weekly booty call wasn't the type of relationship she envisioned with him however she had done a lot of thinking since that night at the hotel and was questioning if not having Shane in her life at all would even be better. If it was going to be this or nothing; she picked this. "If this is all you see for us then that's fine, I can learn to accept it and just be happy with what we have."

Shane looked at Ashlee and was noticing how upset she seemed. He honestly felt like shit about this entire thing. Being selfish and expecting her to leap to his call everytime was completely unfair. Marissa was the only woman he had ever really fell for but lately he had begun to grow very strong feelings for Ashlee and not just physical. "Can I be honest?" he asked.

"Please." Ashlee responded taking a seat on her bottom stair motioning for Shane to sit next to her.

"From the first time I saw you, I was so attracted to you. I couldn't get you out of my head and wanted nothing more but to touch every inch of you." Shane admitted, lowering his voice in case her mother was listening in. "You are incredibly beautiful and we have amazing fucking sex." Ashlee couldn't help but laugh softly at this comment. The man was being honest. "And I'm not going to lie, when you got mad at me, I was confused and kinda pissed off when you rejected me because I felt we were on the same page. That was selfish of me. You deserve someone that shows you off every second of everyday. I just got out of a 20 year marriage; the idea of a committed relationship kinda scares me." He added then paused. As Shane collected his thoughts, Ashlee's heart was pounding so fast against her chest. She just knew he was going to get up and walk away. She pushed too hard and now any chance of being with this man was gone.

"But…" Shane started again, "I refuse to let someone else be that person for you. Don't give up on me just yet. I want to be with you; in every way possible. What do you say?"

Ashlee couldn't believe her ears, "Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?" she asked feeling a little foolish asking but she had to know where they stood.

Shane smiled sincerely at how weird but good that sounded, "I guess that's what it means. Ash…" he said taking her hand into his, "I'm not gonna lie to you, it has been a really long time since I've done anything like this but I want you to be my girlfriend, I want to show you off to the world as mine, I want to know everything there is to know about you. You were right, besides physical stuff, we really don't know much about one another; I wanna change that."

"Really?!" Ashlee said feeling tears of pure joy building in her eyes. Since the first time he placed his hands on her helping her in the ring; all she could ever think about is how amazing he was but also how out of reach he was as well. Shane McMahon was top filet at the butcher shop and after eating nothing by cheap hamburger for so long; Ashlee never found herself worthy of someone like him.

"Its gotta be slow, especially where my children are involved and that part may take more time but I see no reason to hide anymore." Shane said placing his hand on the side of her face seeing the happiness in her eyes.

"Are you really sure?" Ashlee said getting nervous about her hopes getting too high.

"Absolutely." He said leaning in closer to her. "You know…" he said with a naughty smile coming across his lips, "I did travel an awful long way, I could really use a kiss from those lips of yours." Before he could even prepare himself, Ashlee lips were crashing into his. She was absolutely crazy about this guy and missed his kisses.

Much to the couple's dismay they were interrupted by a woman's voice, "Awe look at the two of you. Babygirl, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend?!" Joanne said walking by the staircase. There was a certain slur to her words that was too noticeable not to detect. Shane of course was too polite to let on that he caught on but Ashlee was ready to die. Shane had no idea about her mother and she was hoping to keep it that way. Joanne was left alone too long and Ashlee just knew she must have popped a few pills while in the kitchen. As Joanne continued talking to Shane her speech was getting worse and worse. Ashlee knew Shane wasn't stupid and was just being nice talking to her mother who was quite frankly high as a kite.

Suddenly a car horn loudly blasted outside. "Oh that must be Doug, well I'm gonna get going guys. Have a nice evening." She said with a wink heading for the door.

'Bye mom, please be careful." Ashlee said rolling her eyes watching her mom leave. Doug was a "friend" of her mother's. The guy was a complete loser who her mom partied with. Ashlee had only met him a handful of times and that was enough for her. She hated her mom hanging with him but it just wasn't worth the argument; Joanne Mahoney did what she wanted no matter what her kids said.

"Your mom seems really nice." Shane said smiling and taking a minute to look around Ashlee's house. It was beautifully decorated and fit her personality very well. He felt the air in the room change and could tell Ashlee was upset with how her mother was acting. "Is Doug your dad?" he asked.

Ashlee shook her head no and made her way into the kitchen. Shane followed closely on her heels not knowing exactly what to say. She seemed to be getting more and more upset by the minute. She walked over to the counter and found an empty pill bottle only proving her suspicion to be true. It boiled her blood at the thought of her grown mother popping pills in her kitchen. She understood her mom's depression of losing the love of her life but escaping it by using drugs wasn't the answer and only hurt those she had left. "Everything okay?" Shane asked giving her a hug from behind.

"You really want to get to know me better?" she asked with a sad sigh.

"Course I do." He answered.

"Alright, let me fix you a drink first. God knows you'll need it." Ashlee mumbled walking to her liquor cabinet, hoping this wasn't going to be a mistake.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Wow." Shane said after Ashlee finished telling him everything.

The two had been sitting on her back deck for almost an hour watching the sunset. Ashlee told Shane everything; from her dad's death to her mom spiraling out of control to having to struggle taking care of her siblings. "You know where the door is if you wanna run." Ashlee said avoiding eye contact.

"Hey!" he said pulling her chin so she had to look at him, "I'm not running anywhere. I'm just sorry you had to deal with all of this on your own."

"Pretty use to it by now." She answered honestly still shocked that all this information hadn't scared him away.

"Well, you're definitely not alone anymore." He added pulling her into him and kissing the top of her head. And for the first time in a very long time, Ashlee decided to let her guard down and hope for the best.

 **What's everyone thinking? What will everyone's reaction be to the two of them dating?** **Let me know some predictions or comments.**


	16. Out in the Open

Ashlee and Shane pulled up to the back of the arena in Shane's rental car. They had arrived at Smackdown Live _together_. After their big talk last week at Ashlee's house and with her pouring her heart out from her dad's death to her mother's substance abuse issues, Shane felt a sense of honor that she trusted him that much. It was then that he decided he really couldn't keep their relationship a secret any longer; it just wasn't fair to her. He was really starting to develop strong emotional feelings for her and to be honest, it was kind of overwhelming him. This whole situation was not part of his plan. He still hadn't told his boys he was dating someone but knew it was only a matter of time until he didn't have a choice.

"You ready?" Shane said after putting the car in park.

"I'm ready." Ashlee answered looking over to the driver's seat, "But are you sure you are?" She asked noticing the uneasy look on Shane's face. "If you have any doubts…" she started before being interrupted.

"Hey!" he said silencing her by placing his finger over her lips, "It had nothing to do with doubting. You just know that once people find out, a lot's going to change."

Ashlee nodded in agreement. The two had spent a lot of time this past week discussing the very topic. Any accomplishments she made were all going to be because of her connection to Shane in people's minds. They were also prepared for a lot of people to think that she was the reason for his divorce. From Shane's point of view, as long as his sons knew the truth, he didn't give a shit what people thought. Shane flipped his sunglasses down from the top of his head and took one final deep breath, "Alright then, ready to shock some people." He exclaimed with a sly grin then exited the car.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

And shocking, they most certainly did. Walking hand in hand wheeling their luggage behind them, the couple entered through the back entrance of the arena and were greeted by gapping looks of shock from pretty much everyone. Production team members, cameramen, referees, Superstars, and even people from catering all stopped in their tracks as wrestler Ashlee Taylor held the boss' son's hand strolling through the hallways. No one actually came out and said anything but their looks spoke for them. Shane walked Ashlee all the way to the Women's Locker Room area before going off to find his dad for his marching orders for the night. As Ashlee went to walk away, she was jerked back by Shane grabbing her arm pulling her back to him. "That was fun." He whispered with a laugh then kissed her lips softly. Standing in the doorway in the middle of a conversation were Nattie and Renee. Ashlee mentally rolled her eyes; she loved both dearly but found it ironic that the two biggest gossipers in the WWE of course had to be standing there. With one more quick peck, she sent Shane on his way and entered the lion's den.

Ashlee couldn't help but laugh out loud that she didn't even get a chance to put her bag down before the two women came flying in the locker room after her. Nattie and Renee just stood in front of Ashlee; their eyes and mouths both opened wide.

"Hey guys!" Ashlee smiled and waved to her friends, "What's up?"

"What's up?!" Renee exclaimed, "That's all you have to say?!"

"How was your weekend?" Ashlee said trying to cover up her laugh.

"Clearly not as good as yours." Nattie responded, "Explanation now!" she demanded.

Figuring she better put this girls out of their misery before one of them decided to attack, "Take a seat ladies."

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

After outlining the last several months for her friends, Nattie and Renee were up to speed and completely shocked that Ashlee had managed to keep all of this a secret.

"So where do you see this going?" Nattie asked. Her family had been in the business for years so she had known Shane since she was a kid. A lot of girls over the years had crushes on Shane; she saw many flirt but ultimately fail. It was known that Shane was married and very much in love with his wife. To some that she liked, she would give them the heads up and tell them to not waste their time.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I know where I would like it to go but I guess time will tell." Ashlee answered. Her feelings for Shane were growing with each passing day but she still didn't want to get her hopes up.

"I can't believe Marissa cornered you in the bathroom!" Renee added.

"I know that is crazy, I can't imagine her doing something like that. She's always been so nice to me." Nattie said.

"Well you're not the one screwing her husband." Renee blurted out giggling. "Speaking of which.." she paused, "How is McMahon in the sack?!"

Ashlee stood up to start unpacking her ring gear, "I think somethings should be kept private…." Then turning around slowly she smiled, "But what do you think?!" All three girls' laughter filled the entire locker room.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Hey!" Shane heard a familiar voice boom behind him. He jolted when he felt a hard slap on the shoulder.

"Sup guys?" Shane greeted Devon and Bubba, The Dudley Boys. They had recently come back to WWE which thrilled Shane since he had been close friends with them since they started so many years back.

"What's this I'm hearing about you and Ashlee Taylor?" Devon laughed, not believing it. Rumors were already circling the building but the Dudleys had to hear it straight from the source.

Shane smiled shaking his head. He glanced at his watch; less than an hour and people were already going crazy.

"Is it true?" Bubba asked, stressing the point to Shane that they weren't leaving until they got some information. Even though the smile he was sporting gave them all the confirmation they needed; they wanted to hear him say it.

"Alright alright…"Shane said throwing his head back rubbing his hands over his face, "Ash and I are together. Happy?"

Bubba and Devon were shocked to actually hear their friend say the words. Plus Shane never seemed like the type of guy to go after such a younger woman but he was Vince McMahon's son after all; apple must not fall far from the tree. "The question isn't about us being happy. What about you McMahon?! Nailing a hot little thing like Taylor! Damn boy!" Devon shouted gabbing Shane in the ribs.

"Behave gentleman!" Shane joked returning the jabs to his friend but truth was he certainly was happy and definitely the luckiest man walking the planet.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

The plan was for Ashlee and Shane to meet back at the car after the show. All night long the two had to answer to pretty much everyone about their newly disclosed relationship. Overall it seemed to be going fine; no one had anything negative to say. Shane of course, having seen his sister and Paul go through a similar situation years ago, knew better. He knew people had their rude comments and just hoped they would be smart enough to keep them to themselves. He could care less but he didn't want Ashlee feeling hurt or betrayed by people she considered friends.

Ashlee saw Shane up ahead putting his suitcase in the truck of the car and took a second to admire from afar. God was he gorgeous! She couldn't wait to get back to the hotel and spend the night under the sheets with that body.

Shane felt eyes on him and turned around, smiling when he saw who was looking at him. "And how was your night?" he said pulling in for a kiss.

After letting the kiss linger for a few extra moments she responded, "Guessing the same as yours."

"Good to see the WWE rumor mill hasn't lost its touch since I've been gone." He joked.

"Certainly not." She smiled at him, "Word travels fast."

Once they got in the car, Shane felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He became alarmed when he saw it was a call from Marissa. She never called this late unless something was wrong.

"Riss?! Everything okay?" he answered immediately.

Ashlee looked over nervous at the tone of his voice.

"Kenny was online tonight and saw pictures of you and your new girlfriend. He told Declan. They are both pretty upset. I don't know how to handle this Shane." Marissa said laying her head down on the couch cushion. It had taken almost an hour to calm her two oldest children down. They had went off to their rooms eventually but she could still hear their crying for awhile.

Shane put his head down on the steering wheel as Marissa spoke; this is exactly what he was afraid of.


	17. Let Me Explain

Shane waited for the elevator in the lobby of what used to be his home for years. He smiled thinking of all the memories he had in this very space; bringing each one of the kids home from the hospital, walking them down for their first days of school, or yelling after them to stop at the glass doors before running out onto a busy New York street. So many of his families' moments were captured right here in this building. Once the elevator doors opened he stepped on making his ascent up to the penthouse to see Marissa and the kids. He glanced at his phone one more time, pulling up the image that he had searched online. Just like Marissa had said last night, there was a picture of himself kissing Ashlee at a coffee shop just down the street from the arena that they had stopped at before yesterday's show. It was captioned with " **WWE's young superstar Ashlee Taylor to blame for Shane O-Mac's divorce."**

The second Marissa had called him last night he took the earliest flight home to set everything straight. He tried to get the boys on the phone to talk to them but Marissa told him they flat out refused to talk to him. This absolutely killed Shane; he always had such a strong and close relationship with his sons and the fact that they wouldn't even get on the phone with him hurt. She texted him early this morning saying she was keeping Declan and Kenny home from school; they were just too upset. With Rogan being so much younger she made it a point to her two oldest to not mention a thing to him so he was already off to school.

Shane stepped off the elevator and made his way to the front door. Reaching for the knob to turn it open he suddenly stopped then tapped his knuckles against it. It still felt so weird to knock on his own door but he had to remember he didn't live here anymore. After a few seconds the door flung open and he was being greeted by his newly ex-wife. "Hey" she said "Come on in." She didn't make eye contact which Shane found very strange. They had been acting fine towards one another the past few months.

Shane stepped in and closed the door behind him. "Boys!" Marissa shouted, "Can you come in here a second?"

After a minute Shane saw his two older boys come around the corner into the kitchen. Once both kids saw their father the tension in the room skyrocketed. "Forget it!" Declan shouted, " I don't wanna talk to you!" the oldest McMahon child spat at his dad as him and his brother turned to walk away.

"Excuse me!" Shane exclaimed raising his voice so his sons knew he meant business, "I understand you're upset but I am still your father. I deserve more respect than that!"

"Why?! You didn't respect to mom when you went around cheating on her! You have no respect for this family so why should we respect you!?" Kenyon yelled back with tears in his eyes. His dad had been his hero; he couldn't believe he could do something like this.

"Alright that's enough!" Marissa hollered to get everyone's attention. "Boys that is enough. As much as I love you sticking up for me, as I explained last night, Dad did not cheat on me. Now you both have been raised better than this. I will not have you disrespecting the man who has provided and loved you unconditionally since before you were even on this earth. Understood?!"

Shane smiled at his former wife. He knew no matter what happened personally between them, they would still always be a team when it came to their boys. "Listen, before this gets any more heated, I want to speak. Sit down please." He motioned to the seats at the breakfast bar. Declan and Kenyon looked at each other for a second then each took a seat; being only 2 years apart they were incredibly close.

Shane took a deep breath and collected his thoughts before he spoke. "Guys, I in no way ever cheated on your mother. What have I always told you about the media and these tabloids? They will print anything to sell a story."

"Bullshit!" Declan said slamming his fist on the counter, "This isn't just some story, there was a picture. Care to explain how they made that up!"

Shane flinted at how angry his son was; the McMahon temper certainly did not skip a generation. He held up his hand to rein in his sons again, "Can I explain?!" He waited until the room was quiet than started again, "Look guys, like we told you months ago, your mom and I will always love each other. But sometimes it's better for the family if the parents are not together anymore. I would never even think about hurting your mother like you think I did. She is far too important to me, I promise."

Marissa saw her sons' expressions start to soften, "Its true boys. Dad wouldn't hurt us like that. He didn't cheat."

"You really think your mom would let me stand here if she even thought for a second that I did?!" Shane chuckled trying to lighten the mood. "Come on, you know how mom gets when I spill coffee on the counter for God's sake."

Shane hoped his sons believed him; he still saw the unsureness on their faces because he still hadn't explained the picture. "In regards to the picture you found, yes I am dating someone but again it started after mom and I decided to not be married anymore. But just know that that doesn't change our relationship. I could never let anything on this planet come between us. You guys and Rogan are the three most important people in my life."

"Well I don't want to meet her!" Kenyon shouted. He refused to accept his dad with any other woman.

Shane reached over to grab his middle son's hand, "That's okay buddy, you don't have to. I wasn't planning on you guys meeting her until I got to know her better."

"I'll never be okay with it!" Kenyon exclaimed. Out of the three boys, Kenyon was definitely the most stubborn, a trait he inherited from his father unfortunately.

"I understand." Shane reassured him. He truly wasn't planning on Ashlee meeting her kids for some time but seemed like it may be longer than he anticipated. Hopefully Kenny would come around eventually.

"Sorry we jumped to conclusions Dad." Declan said standing up from the breakfast bar.

Shane pulled him in for a hug, "Its okay buddy. I love you very much."

"Love you too." Declan responded.

Shane enjoyed the hug with his eldest before looking over his shoulder to a still pretty emotional Kenyon, "Think you can give your old man a hug?"

It took a minute but much to Shane's relief he eventually got that hug, "Love you Dad." He said wiping his tears away.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

It was school vacation week and Shane surprised the boys with a trip on the road. There was a show in Orlando so with Marissa's blessing he took all three boys with him to Smackdown. With his parents having a vacation home down there it was perfect. They could enjoy the pool and hit up some theme parks down there as well. It had been a few weeks since Shane had the talk with Declan and Kenyon and things were starting to flow again. He had no intentions of breaking up with Ashlee so he just had to learn how to juggle both parts of his life until he could somehow mesh them together.

Shane had explained everything to Ashlee and as much as he hated hurting her feelings he explained that at the show it would be best to keep her distance. It did suck but Ashlee understood; the last thing she would ever want would be to upset his kids. Hopefully they would learn to like her somewhere down the line.

Backstage Shane was introducing the boys to a bunch of Superstars they didn't get to meet at Wrestlemania. They were having so much fun taking pictures and hearing stories about their dad. Ashlee was coming out of the locker room with Nattie. The veteran star was explaining her latest marriage problems with TJ and Ashlee was trying to give her friend the best advice she could. Since she was so wrapped up in her conversation she wasn't even looking where she was going and bumped right into someone in the hallway, losing her balance and falling to the floor.

"Oh Jesus, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed looking up and seeing the one person she was meaning to stay away from tonight.

"You okay?!" Shane asked helping her up off the floor. He had to fight off the reaction to pull her in for a kiss.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Wasn't paying attention." She stuttered over her words looking over at her boyfriend's three sons. In any other circumstance she would find it funny that she was getting intimidated by three kids.

Shane figured there was no getting around introducing her quickly, I mean she was standing right here. "Guys, this is Ashlee Taylor. My…ummm…friend." He said awkwardly.

"Nice to meet you." Declan waved in a polite way. Wasn't exactly the most welcoming hello Ashlee had ever gotten but it was a start.

"You too." Ashlee answered back.

"HI!" a little voice interrupted, "I'm Rogan!"

This cute little boy nearly stole Ashlee's heart. He was so sweet and obviously unaware of everything going on. She knelt down to get on his level, "Well hello there!" she said sticking her hand out to shake the little boy's. She couldn't get over how much he looked like Shane.

"You're really pretty!" Rogan said smiling.

Ashlee put her hand over her heart, "Well thank you very much, you're pretty cute yourself." As she was interacting with the little 6 year old, she couldn't help but feel eyes on her. She glanced over to Shane's other son and noticed he did not look pleased to see her. He hadn't spoken a word. Shane noticed this as well and quickly rounded his kids up directing them down the hallway. As they were walking up ahead of him he quietly turned around and mouthed, "I'll call you later." to his girlfriend. She responded with a head nod and sad smile.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

The show was about to start so Shane and the boys were in gorilla position with Vince and the rest of the crew. Shane was supposed to be opening up the show with Daniel Bryan so the kids were told to stay in the back with Vince until Shane was finished.

"10 minutes til showtime!" someone yelled

Shane had his back turned to his kids going over the script with Daniel one final time. Everyone was busy putting the final preparations before they were set to go live. Suddenly something caught the youngest McMahon's eye and little Rogan was off running behind equipment. He knew he wasn't supposed to and his dad always stressed to him and his brothers to stay together but there was just so many interesting things to see. The hallways were so confusing that it didn't take long for little Rogan McMahon to realize that he was lost. Suddenly the fireworks to start the show went off and scared the little boy so much he ducked under a table. He had never heard anything so loud in his life.

Back at gorilla, Shane turned around to face his three sons when he realized only two of them were there. "Where's Rogan?!" he exclaimed looking around frantically.

"He was here a second ago." Declan answered looking around the room.

"You two are supposed to be keeping an eye on him. That was the deal!" Shane shouted.

"Guys you ready?" a production manager called from the other side of the curtain to Shane and Daniel.

"I gotta find my son!" Shane yelled over the noise of the crowd.

"Shane, I can handle the promo. Go find your kid." Daniel called out making his way to the curtain as his entrance music began.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Ashlee had just finished up at hair and makeup so she was heading back to the locker room until her match later on. As she walked by a row of tables she could have sworn she heard a little cry come from one of them. Stopping in her tracks she looked around but didn't see anyone nearby but then she heard it again. She flipped up one of the tablecloths and noticed a little brown haired boy hunched down shaking like a leaf. "Rogan?" she called to him.

His little head popped up, "Hi." His tiny voice said as he wiped tears from his eyes.

"What are you doing under here?" Ashlee asked.

"I got lost and then when I heard a really loud noise I ran under here." He said then started crying again. "Dads gonna be really really mad."

Ashlee reached her hand out for Rogan to take, "I don't think so. But I bet he's really worried, let's go find him!" Rogan looked at Ashlee's hand and was hesitant at first. He knew he wasn't supposed to go with strangers but his dad did say she was his friend. He decided it was okay and took hold of her hand.

Meanwhile Shane was going completely out of his mind looking for his son. He had almost everyone in the building looking for him and even Vince left his desk to help with the search of his grandson. Shane and his two other sons were frantically opening every door up and down the hallway but there was still no sign of him.

"Looking for something?" Ashlee called out behind the McMahon men.

Shane whipped around and say Ashlee walking hand in hand with his youngest child.

"Oh Thank GOD!" Shane shouted running down the hall scooping Rogan up when he reached them.

"Poor little guy got scared of the pyro and I found him hiding under a table." Ashlee explained.

"Thank you so much!" he said locking eyes with his girlfriend.

"Buddy why did you run off? You know you are supposed to stay with us." Shane said still squeezing the child.

"I was just playing explorer." Rogan said innocently.

"No more of that." He said finally putting him back on his feet, "Gave me a heart attack! I'm just so glad you're okay!"

Ashlee smiled at the sight of Shane as a dad. If it was possible it made him even more attractive. She glanced over to his other two children who looked just as relived that their little brother was okay. She thought she must be imagining things but she could have swore she saw Kenyon mouth "Thank you" to her. Maybe there was hope after all for a relationship with his kids.

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